Forever

The quaint little chapel doors open, giving way to her, in her most beautiful moment. Donned in white, she gracefully glides down the aisle, along their song, bringing warmth to the misty sunday afternoon. Her parents met her midway, both struggling to hold back tears, both heartwarmingly failing miserably. At the last moment, the father tightly held on to the bride, probably wishing he wouldn't have to let go. With water welling in his eyes, he entrusted his only girl, forever his little girl, to the man patiently waiting at the end of the altar. She's now a beautiful young woman, the beautiful bride, who in the midst of families and friends, most especially before God pledges her love and life to his groom. Her forever, entwined with his.

This is why I love weddings.

Dennis Morante - Missy Peralejo Wedding
October 28, 2007
Madre de Dios Chapel, at the Midlands
Tagaytay Highlands

One Big Luck.

Who got seriously lucky yesterday, snatching up two premium Upper A tickets three hours before the hottest game in town? And yeah, did I say they were totally free?

That's right. Beb and I are damn lucky. The secret na ito.

It was one happy surprise. We were fine with watching the game in the television that afternoon, knowing the tickets are jacked up expensive and hard to come by. But during lunch with the Peralejos at Jr's Tita Mary Ann's place, his other aunt, Tita Gigi, casually asked if we wanted to watch it live because two of her tickets just freed up. Kumusta naman? Pinakain ka na, may libre pang tickets. I love Beb's family.

We were so unprepared that Beb needed to go back to his place to change his striped green and blue shirt. Pwede na, may pagkabalimbing nga lang. His mom had to beg him to change in fear of Jr, who's 5'11, being mobbed. I, on the other hand, had to get changed in Starbucks with the game day shirt Beb bought for me there in Araneta. School pride. Ahlavit.

Blue Eagles' sixth man.

Was the 300 peso shirt worth it? Hell yeah. The game was so close. Ang tagal tinawag ng final score grabe. The game can turn your nerves into ooze. But more than the players on the floor, as always, school spirit from both sides were on a high. One thing about ateneo-lasalle games is when you watch them live, you can actually watch the game with your eyes closed. You can tell what's happening just by from the cheers from the gallery. And it was crazy. Pang finals talaga ang dating. I was standing the whole game through. I screamed my lungs out for the entire time. I think today's lack of voice proves the point. Am so proud to be a part of Blue Eagles' sixth man. Sabi nga ng shirt ko, I bleed blue.

Sige na nga sa camera phone na lang. Damn, I miss Niko. Still, happiness!

Talk about lucky. Free lunch. Free tickets. Free shirt from Beb. And a nail-biting win from the boys from Katipunan. Panalo!

Sometimes, I could really use a warning.

There are just some things that aren't meant to be discussed on the dinner table. At least, not yet. Or, make that, ever.

It was Jamie's graduation and I was invited for dinner in Annabel Lee's by the Peralejos in celebration. The dinner was lovely. We had clam chowder, salad and while everybody else had roast chicken and pasta, me, the meat lover than I am, had filet mignon. Carnivore na kung carnivore. But in as much as I loved the meat, it was by far not the highlight of my night.


Well, highlight not in the sense that it was happiness all over. The moment was very rattling, to say the least.

The boyfriend has this recent conviction to lead a healthy lifestyle. With much prodding by his mom, and with what happened to my father, he finally decided to go through the Weight Management Program in St. Luke's. The program worked and in just one month, he has lost about the same weight targetted for him to lose in 3 months. This accomplishment seemingly boosted the conviction and he is now considering an overhaul, which i lovingly termed "prettyfication".

During dinner, I found out that the next stop to prettyfying the boyfriend was with the orthodontist. My boyfriend is considering getting grills! The dentist suggested putting on braces to fix his underbite, which for three years that I have been with him, haven't notice. With a careful look, though it was hardly noticeable, he did had an underbite. I, of course, suggested that if he thinks he should get them, then he should do so, after all, I used to work the braces ages ago to fix my overbite. That once cured overbite is obviously as stubborn as the person who had it and eventually came back, but never did it bother me. Then Tita Beth, his mom, lets this loose.

"O di ok pala, he has an underbite, you had an overbite. When you have kids, they'll have perfectly aligned teeth."

Kids? When? How? Where? Why?

I got hold of my glass of water and washed down the last bite of meat I suddenly found hard to swallow.