A LIFE WELL-LIVED...

GRADE SCHOOL Grade I

Mrs Emperatriz Mutia Buendia (Ma'am Atring). She was also our Cub Scout Kawan 39 Master. She was so strict. Heard of the phrase "sit erect mi ana"? We all were. These are some of the many memories I collected when I was in first grade. Uly Barquin started making drawings of William Lines ships: M/V Edward, M/V Victor and M/V Dona Elena. He bacame a Master Mariner, and have sailed around the world, have seen beautiful places, met beautiful faces while being paid quite handsomely. Gilda (Get Lyn) Wong had the longest pencil, the pretiest pencil I have ever seen. I ran into her in our adulthood and reminded her of that, it took her a while to refresh her memory. She became a nurse and moved to the United States where she worked for a reputable hospital in New York City. She, too is retired now. Viling Alas coined the word "three double lines" to describe the writing pads used in higher grades that has a red line between two blue lines. Grade I writing pads didn't have those. Benjamin (Ihid) Verano was in our class too. While I can say that most of us were poor, he was poorer. He was like two years older than I was and he was always there like protecting me from bullies - he was probably thinking he was that. We baceme instant friends. I often share him some of my snacks during recess time, and some kids' stuff like rubber band and marbles. Fast forward. He got married and raised a family in Aloran, and I moved to the United States with my wife and two children, and raised them there. Sometime in 2010 I came home after a long absence. I can't believe who came to see me. Fifty years didn't seem to change him. He looked exactly the same when we were kids, only older. He still called me Alexander, just like in the old days. Only a handful of my friends call me that. We talked, we reminisced, he showed me around, our school, the river, the playgrounds. I thought we both heard the echoes of the past. Unlike others I ran into, he never asked for anything. He said, he was just happy to see me. It's Ben now, no longer Ihid (he never liked it), and he hadn't lost his antics. I knew he and his younger brother, also a friend of mine, didn't always see eye-to-eye - he asked me that if I ran into him, hit him for me... he was grinning, I was quite sure he wasn't kidding. It's a privilege to have a friend like Ben.