Plans no more

It has been six years since we graduated from college. After that, we went our separate ways and focused on our careers. A few of us moved to Manila and pursued careers that were completely unrelated to the ones we studied in school. Others chose to stay in the same town and work as volunteer teachers for out-of-school youth, and some decided to pursue a career in the BPO industry. There were a few who moved on to teach in private schools in other regions. Due to the fact that we were all staying at completely different locations, it was very challenging to get together because some of us went home while others did not, which made it difficult to get together. As a result, it is not possible for the entire group to meet in one place at the same time.

The fact that we were separated didn't stop us from keeping in touch with each other all throughout these years, though. In our group chats on Facebook and Messenger, we would update one another with what was going on in our lives, and although we're all too busy with our daily lives and can't catch up and talk to each other every day, we still know what's going on, since we have various social media outlets where we can keep in touch with what's happening in our lives. We were not Mariteses though, blame it on our shared post that’s flooding each other’s timelines every day.

We occasionally met each other over the years, but it was always in a small group. We would occasionally run into a few people who weren't busy, and then some people would show up the next and those who had previously been there wouldn't be there anymore the next time we meet. Thankfully, most of us were able to get together this year, with only two or three folks being unable to.

In fact, the initial plan called for just 5 of us to spend the night at the house of a friend I haven’t seen for literally 6 years. She is one of those people who decided to work in Manila and hasn't returned home in a while. In the group chat, she informed us that she would be returning home for the holidays, and we were ecstatic to hear her announcement. A meeting and a trip were scheduled for us and we had arranged to meet up. We simply didn't notify the others about it because we weren't sure if they would be able to make it.

However, when "nanay," one of my friends who we consider to be the group's mother as she is already in her fifties, suggested inviting the others since they would also be available on that day, the original plan had to be changed. There was a group video call made right away, but only a few were able to join in since most of the others were still busy at that time. There was even one of them who speculated that perhaps one of us might be getting married since such video calls are so uncommon to us.. Considering that we frequently do video calls in the other group chat instead.

However, when they found out about the trip we were organizing, they were more than genuinely surprised, they were ecstatic. In spite of everyone being overjoyed, one of the girls still needs to get her father's permission despite the fact that she is now an adult. She has already made plans regarding her work immediately, but her dad is the only concern. A lot of the time, she is not allowed to spend the night with her friends. However, we advised her to speak with her father first in order to obtain his approval before making any final decisions. We even offered to speak with her father on her behalf. Fortunately, the following day she got his approval.

The following day, our trip finally arrived! It had been a long wait for us! On the day of our trip, the group chat was too noisy just talking about what we were going to do, where we're going to meet up before we head off, and what stuff we're bringing such as the food and drinks we were going to bring. Then there was one more problem to deal with that day as well! We have lost touch with our friend who was in charge of the accommodation. Unfortunately, we do not know where he is located exactly her house is located and we only know the name of the place where she lives. It so happened that there had been a power outage in their area since the previous day, and the situation was as follows. As well as that, it is also difficult for people to contact one another through the internet because their area does not have any mobile phone reception. The good thing is that I was able to get in touch with her before we left town. Thank goodness, I called her number right after she arrived at the mountain where she has good reception, so I was able to speak with her immediately.

Thanks to my brother, we had someone to accompany and drive us that day. One of my friends is still at school that day, attending a meeting until 3:00 p.m. Even though we were supposed to travel by 2:00 pm, since the road is quite dangerous, we waited for her. We anticipated that we would not see the sunset though. Thankfully, we were still able to enjoy it while we were still on the road.

Whooh! I miss writing an article here! It's been soooo long since I last published an article. It's late here so I'm just going to share the rest of the story in the following days. I hope you still remember me. Thanks for reading!