Thursday. I am slowly scanning for some old pictures of mine from my old photo album. I am searching for something. I am not looking for some old typical pictures of mine. NO, I am not certainly going to waste my time looking for some ancient “selfies”. Instead, I am trying to find some photographs that can remind me of my yesteryears—Something Important. Something Memorable—‘Yun bang pwede mong ma-ipost sa Instagram with the famous tagline, the “#THROWBACK”. But, there’s this one particular picture that I want to catch a glimpse of—NO, scratch that. I DON’T WANT JUST SOME MERE GLIMPSE OF IT; I WANT TO STARE AT THAT OLD PHOTGRAPH! Go back in time, Lock myself up, and be at that moment forever. But, who am I kidding?! That’s not even possible. Never in a million years.
“For Pete’s Sake ALEXI! ‘Wag ka nga munang mag-senti! Not here. Not now.” My thoughts were cut off by my best friend, Leizel, yelling at me.
“At newsflash! Anak mo na ang susunod na sasalang sa stage!” she added. Without further ado, I left her and my photo album to hug my daughter and mouthed GOD BLESS. I returned to my seat after that. Oo nga pala, nanonood ako ng pageant—My daughter’s one of the contestant, by the way— Pero dinala ko pa din ang photo album ko. Weird.
Pageant… It somehow reminded me of my teenage years. To be quite honest, ‘yung picture na hinahanap ko kanina—Even now— is ‘yung picture ko ‘nung sumali ako ng pageant, the most memorable pageant na sinalihan ko. And you know what’s weirder? It’s when my daughter represents the same school that I represented 20 years ago, “Sogod International University - Integrated Laboratory High School”. She even got the same number, #6! And that’s not all, It’s the same pageant with the same date of occurrence— September 25. AND I HAVE NO IDEA. Coincidence. Matatawa siguro ako if the host and the judges ay magkapareho din. LOL.
Pero alam mo? Because of this pageant thingy, I had my first love—Love at first sight, as they call it— Oo na! Sige na! Aaminin ko, ‘yung picture na hinahanap ko is hindi lang para maalala ko ang sarili ko, It has also something to do with him, Peter. He’s not macho, he’s skinny. He doesn’t have those “Big Brown Eyes”, he’s chinito. He may not be the most handsome guy for some people but for me, He’s the epitome of perfection.
That night, or I often called as “The One Night Stand That Never Left”, — WAAAAIIITTT! Don’t get me wrong! I called it like that kasi ISANG BUONG GABI kaya kami nakatayo, okay?! Maybe umupo ako pero 15 minutes lang o ‘di kaya when my handler told me so. And since then, I can’t seem to forget it. Understand?! Very Literal. — I started liking him. To make it clearer, CRUSH.KO.NA.SIYA! Kaso ‘di lang ako, Bakit? Because my classmates are crushing on him, too. MGA MAHAHAROT! :3
Natatandaan ko pa nga ‘nung kinausap niya ako at sinabing “Will you be my partner?” ayy day ‘wag ka! Sino ba naman ako para tanggihan ang grasya?! Jusko naman, Edi syempre pumayag na ako no?! Muntik ko ngang masabi “Partner?! For Life?! Ay Go! Bet ko ‘yan!” kaso, baka matakot kaya a simple nod from me let him know that I agreed. May partner naman kami sa earlier part ng pageant pero ‘di na kasi sila umabot sa Top 5 eh.
I, later on, found out that he lives Muntains, Rivers, Cities, Bridges away from me — Oo! Ganun Kalayo! BAKEET?! — But, Who cares?! I have facebook on my side! Kung hindi nga dahil sa pageant ‘yun ay hindi ko malalaman name niya, at salamat na rin sa mga kaklase kong nagka-crush din sa kanya ay napadali ang paghahanap ko — Hanggang dito ba naman kaagaw ko rin ‘yung mga kaklase kong ‘yun?! Ay Naku! Naku ha?! Ayyy Talaga!
