Goodbye Friends

In November of last year, my high school friend and classmate Weldy gave in to breast cancer. Just last week, my grade school classmate Marvin also succumbed to diabetes. Both returned to their Creator barely reaching the age of 40, just when life is supposed to begin for most of us.

Weldy, as I could recall, was a pleasant character in our batch. She was one of those girls who diligently studies even way before our periodical exams. I may not have known her more beyond school but for the 4 years that we’ve been together, I could see then that she was a kind daughter and sister to her family.

As I gathered from our old friends after her demise, she never complained about her illness, no matter how painful and heart-wrenching her cancer could have been. I admired her even more for the courage to live contentedly up to her last breath.

Marvin, on the other hand was my classmate in grades 2 and 3. As I was a new student in second grade, he was one of the first kids who became my friend for the simple reason that our mothers knew each other from way back. Aside from being smart, he was also the biggest boy (both tall and chubby) in our class which I guess, made him automatically class president.

There’s this funny story I never fail to share time and again with our batchmates and even with other friends who do not know him personally. Being the class leader, Marvin was always designated by our adviser to stay at the front and write on the board everyone else who dare open their mouth whenever our teacher was out of the room. Unfortunately, I could never take a break from chatting with whoever is willing to listen so I was always number 1 on his list. One time, upon seeing my name boldly written on the board, a “bright idea” just popped into my young impish mind. I signaled Marvin to come over where I was seated and whispered to him “Papasa na ako name diha, tagaan ka nako ug bag-o nga piso!”. Seriously, he was not the type to be fooled around. Of course, he didn’t approve my “bribery” and so there was nothing else I could do but to shut my mouth! After sometime of me keeping still, eventually he removed my name from the list and to my surprise, he went back to me and whispered “Patan-awa lang ko!”.

After 3rd grade, I left for Manila and came back 3 years after. Marvin was no longer in the same school and somehow since then, we never got the chance to meet again face to face. As I mentioned to my brother this morning the sad news, he was also taken aback by Marvin's untimely death. He remembers Marvin as a kind kid. But to my playful mind, I bet my tubby brother refuses to remember when I used to ask him before “Ngano’ng si Marvin nga tambok, cute man, ikaw lagi kay dili?!”.

So long Weldy and Marvin. May your souls find eternal rest in our Father's hands. And may we see each other again up there… much, much later of course!