Rewind, Reconnect and Reminisce

It has been a long time since I posted this series and I have an interesting one to post.


Rewind to the early or mid 1980s when this friend arrived in Canada. I believe he came with his mother. His sister and brother and their families were already in Yellowknife. He was introduced to us by his brother who lived in my parents's basement.


We got along well and all through those years we would see each other at birthdays, weddings and funerals or other parties. When I had my youngest son baptized, he stood for the godfather who could not make it to Yellowknife.


When we moved to Edmonton, I only had a few contacts with him but we started emailing and talking on the phone. We had some hearty chuckles and loud laughter brought on by some really funny emails. We also had bets going and I remember one wherein he was so sure he was going to win but unfortunately, I had a stronger feeling of what I was betting and I won and he had to treat me to a dinner at the Keg, my choice as that was part of the bet, wherein I had a nice peppercorn steak dinner and some kind of dessert.


When I tried to do my semi-retirement experiment, we somehow lost touch and he thought that I had settled in Toronto. Just a about two months ago, a cousin got his email address and I sent him a short message and now we are back to chuckling and laughing. I will see him this coming Thanksgiving and we are going for coffee and just do a lot of chatting.


I asked him to check out my blog and two weeks ago he started his own blog. This note to my niece Alysia,
older people do blog and they enjoy it. 


So Ped, it's nice to be reconnected and start to reminisce.

Rewind, Reconnect, Reminisce

Rewind back in the early 70's, music from the Stylistics, Tower of Power, Chicago and Ambrosia can be heard on the airwaves. A group of students hanging around close by the Architecture department at Adamson University in Manila.


I was there visiting my sister who was an Architecture student and met Joven. At the same time I was also cross-enrolled and I do not remember if we had been in the same class or just knew each other because ot my sister's group of friends. Then he had this nickname "Cocoy". He used to call me "Egay" and somehow I think it is because of my big eyes and this basketball player. He will have to explain this part.


This was a tight knit group of friends and we went to different activities. We enjoy going to basketball games and we went to movies. Some even went out as couples. It was fun and we cared about each other. Then school year ended and some graduated, some started to work or went to different university. Somehow, we still had connections through the other friends.


Later on, a few had immigrated to Canada or to the US and somehow lost connections with the rest of the group. On one or two occassions, we had a chance to visit home and saw some of them. Then for the longest time, we never heard from each other.


Last year, through all these social media...Linked or facebook, we somehow managed to find each other again. So the reconnection happened and seemed for a while, we were all trying to reconnect and reminisce.


It is such a good feeling to have him back as a friend. Every so often we talk on the phone and just try to remember all kinds of friends and things we did what food we liked back then.


Today, Joven lives in New Jersey with his wife of 37 years. He has 3 sons and 3 grandchildren. He works as a night auditor in one of the hotels in New York City and has been with them for 23 years. Now I know where to stay if and when I somehow will visit the Big Apple. I am hoping he will give me a discount and a tour of the city. How about it Coy? He is still funny. When he calls, he calls me his sleeping pill. He works the night shift and he calls just before he goes to sleep...he says I make him sleepy. He still loves sports as he had been an athlete during our college days.And now I think, he is quite a chef as well.


I hope someday we will all meet again and have a reunion. So "Coy" it was nice to have been reconnected with you and I enjoy the phone calls.


And yes, we were two who went out as a couple. And I am very sorry you were not the first in my Rewind, Reconnect and Reminisce but you are still in the top 3. I hope that is good enough.

Rewind, Reconnect and Reminisce

This will be a regular feature of my blog for a while since I had been reconnecting with friends, ex-boyfriends, relatives, past co-workers and schoolmates. Some were from 35 years ago and it is very interesting to find out what had happened to them, where they are now and what they are doing.

Rewind to 1960's somewhere in the Philippines where we all lived.The first I will feature are members of a family we were friends with since we were young children. Our parents and theirs were friends as well. We hung around each other's home and had dinners, celebrated birthdays together and played together.

They are the Geronimos, Mama Cely, Papa Luis, Chito, Awy, Lani and Alet. Sad to say but Papa Luis has passed on. We all lived in Muntinlupa.

We reconnected through a friend in San Francisco who also grew up with us. This happened after my mother died and they were told about it. Phone numbers were exhanged, calls were made and we started communicating.

Now we call regularly and reminisce. It is such a good feeling to be able to remember parts of my childhood through them and all the things we did. Mama Cely and Lani and her family live in Los Angeles, California and the rest of the family still  live in the Philippines. Hopefully soon, we will meet again. My sister had met them last year and had a great time.
                                                                     

                                                                                  

These pictures were taken in the late 60's and we can't remember what the occasion was.

I guess even then we were fashionistas!!!