[ greyweed ] -- and the bored shall inherit the earth...

I was fresh out of my short, short stint as a graphic artist for a local bookstore when I got home and was told that a certain Mark had called. Over the years I have met numerous Marks, from different schools and companies I’ve been to, so naturally I asked which Mark it was. My niece, who had received the call, of course had no idea, but she did give me a number this Mark left for me.

For some reason I cannot remember at this point, it took me two days to actually send a text message to this Mark, I’m willing to bet that procrastination was a big part of it. So apparently it was Marc Fronda from grade school, he says in a text response that they were planning a reunion for our class and would I be so kind enough to join them in one of their meetings. Of course I could not commit to anything at the time because I was waiting for some projects to start. A week later I finally found myself ambling towards this coffee shop in front of RTU called Beanperk for a low-frequency reunion or sorts and my week’s caffeine fix. And there they were seated neatly by a table: Isabel, Jacklyn, Aladin, Jose and Charisse. Carousell soon followed, as well as, Bryan, Abby and Marc. It’s been years since I shared breathing space with these people and I oddly felt neither familiar nor alienated. It was surreal to be in the same room with these people whom I’ve been both very childish and mature with.

So week after week we met up at the same venue to talk about grade school days and planning the reunion. We went through the entire planning, inviting, gathering up sponsors and getting people to confirm attendance, and to be able to do most of these we went sweaty and tangled up, walking around from one classmate's house to another. After the first house-to-house we decided that a good relaxing, slow evening of bonding was in order. And we then found our way, in Marc's van, to Papa Jek's in Marikina. After a hearty meal and a round of beer (and Calis) we started talking about each one's fondest memories and asked questions each.

The night ended with us taking our bonding to the parking space outside and amazingly enough, bared our souls. I have to admit that I never thought I'd actually go out with people I met during grade school and have a great time, much more bond with them on a deeper level.