QHS Batch 83 – IV Abad Santos:Thank you for the awesome friendship!

25 years after our highschool graduation, it was awesome to finally see some of my best set of friends in highschool.  We drifted apart after graduation and since cellphones, internet, FB and other social networking sites were not in existence yet during those times, we struggled to maintain our communication.

But in 2007 during the 50th Founding anniversary of Quirino High School, some of them met and got re-connected and started calling out friends and searching for them online… until we had a yahoogroup started… and in 2008, we had our first ever Batch 83 Homecoming Reunion.

Forward to 2010… several meet ups later and other activities later, ( I mostly missed because they usually schedule them on friday nights) I found myself driving to Ayala TechnoHub for one of those meet-ups with my class section IV-Abad Santos.  A classmate from Canada just arrived and she wanted to see some of us before she leaves on Saturday ( she is probably flying across the Pacific now).  The usual conversation would always start on some trivia on highschool life. And for the life of me, I do not understand why my memory kicked on high gear as I drew the seat chart and told them where they sat during our senior year in highschool.  They were all astounded and no one dared question my photographic memory.

Then as the night progressed, so did our conversations.  About life, work, challenges, marriages and death of our loved ones.  I shared with them some of the insights I gained from my visit with 3 other classmates in San Diego, CA last September.  There were times when we would laugh at some recollection, but for the most part, we would be quiet at some deep insight or reflection shared by any one of us.

I looked at the 8 friends around me.  Here was a community of friends were there was no need for masks.  There was no need to play the “who is better now after all these years…” but basically, a set of friends who act more like brother and sisters.  We sympathize with the difficulties each one of us go through and try to encourage others to remain strong.  We are like a band of brothers… who are very much aware that time will come when we would not be able to meet as regularly as we can because of distance, time and age, and perhaps health difficulties.

It was a very loving community. I always feel elated after seeing them.  I am always encouraged after our sharing and the other night, we all agreed that it was one of the best discusssions we ever had as a small community.  It was almost 1am when we disbanded from Coffee Bean.  I drove home in silence. My mind was very tired from the trip in Dumaguete and the day activity in Bulacan… but seeing my highschool friends made me realize that I have friends I can count on outside my immediate context of work and family relationships.

I got home and we sent sms to each other thanking each other for their presence at the meet-up.  It was  blessing and thank you Abad Santos clasmates for being in my life.  It was very cathartic to talk about our past – and dream about what could in the future.

Oh, and one of my classmates encouraged me to write more often. “Lately, you have not been writing anything… but your blog is already bookmarked on my computer…”

Thanks for the encouragement.  There are times when I question why I even bother writing and maintaining this blog.  But even if it is just one person from my class who would read this regularly, and find even an iota of encouragement, then it is all worth it.

Thank you my classmates.  Thank you for enriching my life.  See you soon in more encouraging and fulfilling meet-ups in the coming months!