Now living here in the U.S, autumn has always been my favorite time of the year. I
remember back in the Philippines how closely I would looked behind the scenes of every American movie I watched hoping
to see the autumn leaves. How I wished then to be in America, if only to see those leaves . I love the
glorious palette of orange, red, yellow and brown. I wondered then if the fall season really was that
beautiful or was it just the magic of the camera? I love autumn. Maybe it started when I heard the song "autumn
leaves" for the first time as a kid, and fell in love with it.; I must have been 12 or so. This season is absolutely
perfect for me. I love the cool breeze ( summer is not my thing),
the earth tone colors with just enough tint of orange , brown, olive green and golden red ( some of
my favorites), the occasional showers, and the anticipation of the coming holiday season . I had always
thought (or maybe even wished) that I would be living in a house with a porch and white picket fence, some place where
I can see and really enjoy the fall season ( with a cup of starbucks coffee or hot chocolate!! ). Here in California,
I don't get to see fall the way I had imagined it from the movies.. So when I saw this page
I knew that this would be a perfect background page.
In 1983, I went to the east coast to see some friends from college; and there
I got to see and really enjoyed autumn. The foliage was even more beautiful than I had imagined. I seriously considered
moving there; but the thought of the winter storm and leaving all my family behind in California quickly
brought me back to my own reality.
Anyway, why this website? Well in May of 2003, a
very dear friend from high school, whom I have not seen for over 20 years came to visit some of his relatives here
in San Diego, and he was able to reach me through his cousin. Seeing him and talking with him once again, brought
back a a lot of memories; I then realized how much I had missed him and his friendship. I was sorry that
I did not try hard enough to stay in touch with him back in '83, ..
We had not seen each other for
almost two decades and yet the first thing we talked about was high school. Not
about how we were doing at present, but rather what we used to do back then
. The songs, parties, all the teachers & classmates, THE CLOTHES !!
He had to go back to London, but this
time around, I know that I would make it a point to stay in touch regardless of
our chaotic schedule. Seeing him again did more than just recalling the '70's. After so many years, I again
would allow myself to indulge even just once in a while , in remembering our highschool days.
Even moments that sometimes I wished I could forget, I have to accept , are too precious not
to remember.
I then decided to post a message on the WCI website calling
for more alumni from class '76. Another classmate who now resides in Canada saw my posting and sent an e mail. E
mail is such a wonderful thing. Some of us would agree that things would have been a little different if pcs
& e mail were available 25 years ago. Anyway, that's how the idea of having a website came about. We thought that
it would be a perfect venue for anyone, in particular our batch mates who had been "incommunicado". So far there's
only a few of us who try to stay in contact whenever we can ;from California, Canada, London, East Coast, Philippines
and the Middle East.
Getting other alumni to join us is proving to
be a much bigger challenge than getting this website going. I do hope that this site would help some of them find
their way back to something really , really special and unique..... Highschool
!!! ...............e.....(sept. 2003)
May, 2005: Back to Naic for the WCI high school reunion; class
mates from grade and highschool whom I have not seen for years were there; Orly, Lady, Arian, Eva, all from Naic,
Sunny from Maryland, JES from UK, Audie from New Jersey, . ( and yes we missed Rico, Poly, Arlan, Gil Marie, Lolit,
Neneng and many more) .I can go on and on; but the one person whom in 2003 I had looked for without success finally
this time around I did find...My dear , good old friend Cesar whom everyone now calls CJ. It took me a while
to call him that...Seeiing one another again after almost 30 years, was wonderful;. It was 1977 at UST
Hospital when he paid me a short visit along witn a guy named Bing, that would be the last time we would see
each other..For three decades; we did not hear from each other and yet all it took was three minutes before we were
back to how we were in grade and high school.. The laughter, the stories.,the teasing..We just picked up where we left
off...It's been almost two years now and we still keep in touch every week at least.. . Old friend
welcome back into my life again .. .....e .............02/11/07
Sept. 2005..after two decades, I went back to the
east coast to see some friends; and the feeling that I had back in '83 was still there.. The allure of the trees, the
parks; the anticipation of the coming fall...the cool breeze...some things that drew me to that side of the world
20 years ago were still there and as strong as ever....e... .09-'05
"and I know that the east coast will be my other
home..and I know I will not stay, but I will come back again and again; as I did in December
'06, and two weeks ago.. " ' 07-07
