A DAY IN THE LIFE

Jeff, my seriously funny brod/housemate who has a knack for pop-up personal questions, asked me another usual one this morning. I’ve been answering that same question for years now but this time it felt surreal. He asked me if I still have any plans of getting married. As I blurted my answer, he nodded to almost every word I said but it seems that I heard differently and it sounded like I was talking in tongues. It felt like an automatic response that did not bear the whole, unadulterated truth. It’s already 6pm and I’m still pondering on Jeff’s question. I should have given him my best answer.

Being single means you have the time to grow

and be the person you want to be.

Being single gives you space to grow.

Sometimes, it is harder to grow

when you are too close to someone.

Trees are planted far apart so that they can spread their branches

and become strong as they mature.

Being single means learning to live with yourself.

However, that is no more difficult

than learning to live with someone.

Being single means freedom.

You are free to spend a vacation on a beach,

to go to the gym, to work late on an interesting project,

to spend the day in bed watching your favorite movie,

or simply with a person who likes it as well.

Being single means learning not to need someone

to take your life meaningful but learning to live with someone

because you want to be with that person.

Being single means that sometimes you will wonder

why you will bite your lip and feel wistful and ponder

if being with a special someone is better.

Ironically, yet quite happily,

being single is feeling good about being in control of your life.

It is loving and respecting who you are and why you are.

Being single is realizing that having a special someone in your life

is not necessarily better. It is merely different.

Being single means that there could be something wonderful

around the corner and you can take advantage of it.

Being single simply means you can take the chance

and you are free to love again if you are ready and sure of yourself.

I finally got the chance to watch Coach Carter yesterday at Waltermart Calamba. Aside from the fact that I’ve been looking forward in watching that film, I also missed watching a movie all by my lonesome.

After I finished watching, I can’t help but think of last year’s Cemplangan men’s basketball championship game. That was a year ago but whenever I think of that game, it feels like it just happened yesterday. We we’re so close in winning the championship. I told myself that night that I’ve been waiting for eight long years and it was our time. The game was not decided until the final whistle. As Joe Cantada would say, it was a cardiac ballgame. We lost by a point. I believe fate was on our side that night but luck wasn’t. For almost five seconds after the game ended I couldn’t move. I was schocked. But after that, I walked towards our bench clapping my hands, my head unbowed. Why? Because we lost but we fought.

The other team was the long-time defending champions and they haven’t lost a single game for two years. For a moment, we made them feel the fear of losing which they never felt before. We made them feel very afraid. We gave them the scare of their lives. Yes, it was not enough and it can never be enough. But I can live with that. Greatness, no matter how brief, stays with a man.

(This year we failed to reach the semifinals. We lacked players but not heart.)

Yesterday I took the MRT and went to NSO Edsa to request for copies of my son’s birth certificate. After getting off at Quezon Ave. Station, I hurriedly walked towards the exit stairs thinking that the line at NSO would be a mile long since it’s already past 11am. As I neared the stairs, I noticed a man (maybe in his mid-30’s) in front of me walking with a limp and it seems that he had polio or something. I also noticed that there were lots of people rushing towards the elevator, as if they were competing in the 100-meter dash. Though in a hurry, I decided to take the stairs instead because I didn’t want to be in that can with those other sardines. To my surprise, I saw the limping man who was still in front of me and we were the only ones who took the stairs down. Again, one of life’s ironies at its best. How surreal (and funny) that scene was. I realized that I was also limping (mildly) due to a left ankle that was sprained two weeks ago. While walking down, I kind of admired the man in front of me for taking the long way down despite his minor disability.

As expected, the people who took the elevator were long gone before we arrived at the last flight of stairs. The limping man and I walked opposite directions of the sidewalk and as I looked back, I saw him take one last puff and then threw his cigarette in the trash bin. I shook my head and smiled.

I should have taken the elevator.

It was late May of this year when the father of a high school friend died. Last June, the mother of another high school friend also died. And just last week, it was the father of another friend who passed on…

During high school, my friends and I used to meet a lot for gimmicks (like what most teeners do). That was also the case during college (and a couple of baptisms, one of which was my son’s). Years later, most of us got busy with our own lives, careers, and what-have-yous but we had our yearly summer and December gatherings. And now, there were three funerals in just three months. Though we had the chance to meet more often, they were during mournful events.

Well, I guess these things remind us that time is ticking. Yup, I’m really getting older (take note, its "older", not "old", there’s a big difference between the two, hehehe). Like what Vincent (Ebe to fans, hahaha) wrote in Fade Away, "when we move to the left then we move to the right, forward never backward until your moment’s gone, we all fade away"…

But there will always be good news. A friend of ours will be having her wedding on December. It’s still months away but I can already hear the laughter, the fun. Ah, another reason to celebrate.