This blog is for Michelle and Dex.
I have met Michelle during my freshmen years at Mapua, typical "probinsiyana" from Mindoro. While Dex, I met him on my senior years when we were all "aspis" at Mapua Lights Organization (MLO). We were aspiring members of MLO then, our batch is named "Kidlat". It was on this occasion that I also met my husband, Manny, who was also our batchmate. There were seven of us in that batch, including Rodel Peralta, Arvin and Lori. It was the four of us (Manny, Michelle, Dex and I), who made it until these days, stood by and each have earned the right of being called " best friends for life".
By the way, this was our Baguio vacation (From left Manny, me, Michelle and Dex)
Nov 1993, I forgot the exact date but it was our acceptance night. After days and nights of meeting up at school or our house at Bago Bantay, Quezon City, that was our night;
Can you imagine us - after cooking food for about 50 pax on the Acceptance night, we have to go on commute by bus to Batangas bringing all the pots and pans and all our stuff for the program. Yes, we cooked the food at our house in QC with the help of our teacher boarders then - Siony, Gemma, Art Baui, etc. We cooked a very "salty" beef steak c/o Siony, pork binagoongan and well, that's all I can remember.
It was a memorable experience while in school simply because of doing our props, re-arranging our Kidlat song, of course derived from Hagibis original hit, rehearsing our "Oh, Carolina" dance steps (Thanks to Dex and myself for having the talent of dancing). All those small events in life, including after college days, have nurtured the friendship that we have until today. Life is simple and sweet.
Well Now, Michelle and I are both married and each have families to take care of. Michelle is living in New York with her family, she just gave birth recently to a healthy baby girl (Giada), and Manny and I are back in our Cavite home, Dex is working in Manila. You see, I believe it was not an accident that I've met these people in my life. Each has their role to play, as much as I have my own role to play.
We're now on those age we normally call "mid life", and each of us has our share of life's best and worst experiences. Yes, we never stopped growing up and is still learning.
Friends may not be able to pull you up but they will still think of ways not to let you fall. When women marry, they think their husband can fulfill all their emotional needs. A husband will fulfill many of your needs but not all of them. For the rest, you’ll need your family, your community and yes, your girlfriends or boyfriends (in my case) to fill in.
That’s the way it has been with my best girlfriend Michelle and boyfriend Dex. Though I never expected them to solve any of my problems, they supported me through the most difficult experiences I’ve had. They kept me afloat as waves upon waves of disappointments and failures threatened to overwhelm me. I’m glad I’ve kept them — they are to me a friend and more.
As for Michelle, she can relate to me as if she carries my very own heart. As Dex said, you can leave the two (Michelle & I) of us stranded on an island and still survive - just talking all day. She has been with me ever since those days na "kinikilig ako" with my crushes, and she also knows whom I loved the most. Guess who? Sometimes just out of doing nothing, we just look and scored guys passing by based on how good their butts look like, and just laughed about it. She remembers my birthday, etc. not all of the exact dates but THE "moments" specifically, she knows the details of it. She remembers the “special days” in my life.
She listens to me. When I felt bad about what people have done to me, I didn't have to explain everything, she knows how I felt. What's interesting is that she can almost relate to me as my mother would, she gives me advice/s as my mother would do. She knows how I relate to my mom (my mom and I are good friends too).
She felt what I felt, and helped out in anyway she can. When she was feeling low, she would call me and would relate to me her disappointments with her job, family or friends. She would confide in me because she trusted me. In the same way, I know my secrets are safe with her.
As most women advice each other about looks and styles, Michelle would tell me straight if I really look plumped because of my overweighted-ness. Between, the two of us, she is the one more conscious of her looks, so she tells me if I am over-dressed or advices me on how to look more "attractive". I told her, I don't need to dress up to attract guys, they just need to talk to me and they'd just fall for me. HAHAHA. She cares enough to be that honest with me to prevent me from making a fool of myself. Below is a picture with Dex just this Sept 19-21 08.
When I spoke to Dex of my fears and felt that everything has crumbled down and there's no assurance of a good future for me, he propped me up with his wisdom and wit. Sometimes, I just draw my strength from the Lord through Dex encouragements. He always wants what's best for me - on all circumstances. He tried to teach me how to deal with men and how men feels or simply giving me a peek at the man's world. He made me realize that being in love does not always mean it's going to be like a fairytale always. When I get excited about an event or start telling her about what happened in the office or at home, he gets excited, too, and laughs and cries with me. At times, when I am dumbfounded and out of words, Dex just utters it to me the way I would want to tell it myself.
Above picture is my ex-boyfriend (now husband) Manny and my forever boyfriend dear Dex, "you look good in red! "
This is the last time we've been together (From left is Dex, Michelle and her husband Jeff, me and my husband Manny. The 2 kids are Anthony (Michelle's) and Nicole (our eldest). I didn't know yet this time that I am already pregnant to my 2nd, Maqs.
My best friends and I are as close as friends can ever be. I can no longer tell where I end and where they begin. I am them. And they are me.
"I LOVE YOU DEX AND MICHELLE FOREVER"
