After 12 years…

I was at the venue almost 2 hours before 7pm. I was eagerly waiting for all of them to come. I ate some snacks, read pages from the newest issue of Smart Parenting and puffed a couple of cigarettes.

 

I am quite used to waiting but this time it was quite annoying for me to be waiting for people I haven’t seen for the longest time, 12 years to be exact. Thoughts raced through my mind if they’re coming or not. And then finally, a familiar face walked in and eased the boredom and anxiety I was feeling throughout the day.

 

My batchmates started coming in one after the other shortly after 7PM. And then that started the night of never-ending picture-taking sessions and how-are-you’s. Half of the group that came in already have families of their own and the other half (of course) were still single and most probably half of them are committed or haven’t found their partners in life just yet.  

 

I have to admit that I envy some of them who have established careers and were able to pursue their dreams. I, too, had those. It just so happened that I lacked the focus and concentration that I needed to pursue my own dreams and plans for myself right after high school. While I was driving home, I realized that I haven’t done much to myself for the past 12 years except for some things like surviving an physically and emotionally abusive relationship and losing my fiancee to another girl. But in the end, I also realized that in more ways than one, I still consider myself as fulfilled and successful because I now have my own family that I’m proud of; and that I’m still blessed to be given people in my life that I will never trade for any degree or title in my lifetime. Our reunion made me realize that success is subjective and relative.

 

I’m very proud to be part of a batch that produced a lot of professionals and successful people in different fields. When I heard their success stories, I couldn’t help but just feel so honored that for 4 years I was with them and I grew up with them.

 

As I expected, we’re all more mature and we’ve grown as individuals in more ways than one. But still when we laugh, it’s just like we’re back to circa 1988-1992 – we reminded each other of how we had to fall in line when passing though the school corridors, how our ribbons should look like, how we should always have a half slip underneath our uniform – the list just went on and on and we just all laughed remembering those times. We also remembered teachers and of course the chismis that will always be part of any group.

 

Just like anyone else, I’m also looking forward to the next reunion. We do plan to make this a regular thing for our group. It would really be great to see them every so often. It felt really good hearing us laugh together once again. I’m looking forward to develop better friendships/relationships with these people and hopefully, these will be friendships that will outlast even our own lifetime.