Of Jumbo Sized Crayons and Pancit Canton (October 16,2007)

Of Jumbo Sized Crayons and Pancit Canton
By: Maria Reylan M. Garcia


I smiled at the simple photograph laid between the pages of my Chemistry book. An exam is scheduled for the next day, but I did not pay too much attention to how chemical reactions were formed or how to calculate the moles of a substance. My thoughts were rushing along the river of cheer; a charming discovery was made just that morning. That simple photograph was taken some ten years ago, I was innocently projecting in a white puffed blouse and blue over alls depicting the school uniform of my kindergarten.

What's more than the pose that could make or break my well-treasured reputation, is but the charming little girl peeking from behind. Her face seems so familiar that intrigue hovered above my thoughts, I deem to use all the benefits a perfect 20-20 vision offers. Then, I realized that, the same little girl in the picture was in fact my classmate and seatmate during English class in college. Christin Hope and I had been classmates before, that it why I felt a sudden rush and a tingling vibe when I first met her in college. How surprising it is that time has aged the long lost childhood memories we once had. Both of us couldn’t even remember much, but fate had drawn us closer, weaving the loom of a deeper friendship.

But, lesser did I know that it wasn’t only the two of us who shared some childish giggles and precious playtimes. BSN Section B is not only a multitude of strangers coming from all routes of life, neither it is only a room filled with unconnected chains. Rather it was a link of unripe friendships that long ago time didn’t permit to grow fonder. Kathryn and Janus shared their first singing of ABC’s together. Rose Anne and Marinel grew in doing some finger paintings together. It had seemed to be a reunion of childhood friends that were playing some several years of hide and seek together. For at long last, it was in college that their game ended. They found each other once more.

I couldn’t help but widen the already stretched grin on my face, when I came to ponder on certain sweet dumplings. We once got to know each other in ways of games and playtime, yet, now we get to know each other once again in ways of buko juice and pancit canton. The course of interactions may be different but the same thought and objective of seeking a friend and a confidant is something common to both our playful kindergarten selves and our confused college beings. We once shared a jumbo sized crayon in ways of drawing our very first stars, yet now, we share key answers in ways of cramming in assignments and beating project deadlines. The journey of symbiosis may be growing mature but the same desire to help and to be helped reigned in both of our four year old selves and the selves twelve years after.

All of us might be in college, all of us might be plainly regarded as mature and adult-like, and all of us might be considered as nowhere near childish anymore. But, people should take a closer look. We all still play chase and hide and seek, when no college instructor is watching. We all still clamor and runt like babies, when we were to study a dozen chapters for the finals. We still tease jokes and put out tongues at each other, when a conversation is starting to get impenetrable. We still remain friends after how many years of not seeing each other, and we don’t need any reason why we shouldn’t. Such is because; we were once friends and will always be.

I was zapped back to reality, my smile is still engraved on my face, my focus gently fading away from the picture me and Hope had. I had to review my notes for tomorrow’s exam. Honestly, I am not certain if I’ll get a decent grade in the test, but one thing remains clear, I’ll still have those friends I had long ago for tomorrow, all together in taking the exam.

We may have missed to see each other for a long while. But, now that destiny had done its part of bringing us together, we’ll hold each other’s hands tight and never letting go.