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“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” Greg Anderson

How is it to find long lost friends? With the uncertainties that loom ahead, I was drawn into it as if I was solving a jigsaw puzzle, where the pieces become insurmountable effort to connect. 

But that’s where the challenges lie. As what the saying goes, it’s the journey that matters.

So I rode on a tricycle and took off one Sunday morning taking shots with my X1 while we cruised at 50kph towards my hometown in Labrador. 

With Nonong commanding the wheel, I was seated behind him and delighting in a decent 330 degree panoramic view of the sceneries that we passed by.

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Holding the camera with my left hand only exposing the camera’s lens and clicking the shutter release with my right index finger, my back pressed against the steel frame of the tricycle, I took several shots.

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But I missed two goats posing under a waiting shed and appeared to be enjoying the throng of passersby.

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The sweltering rays of the sun had tanned my face and arms but it didn’t matter, I knew it will soon fade away – only focusing on my mission for the day, to find Rolly Austria.

The cool wind inside the cogon makeshift blowing from the nearby river had made Rolly slept like a five year old baby even when the sun had reached its peak directly above us. When he finally woke up by the yelling of his father, I was face to face with him.

‘I know this guy,’ he said ‘…Edwin.’

‘Rolly kumusta? Sorry ha I disturbed your sleep,’

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Like most of our classmates he had to grope for his eyeglasses to see the photo shots of our reunion taken in Fairview and Iba, Zambales.

‘Iba na rin paningin ko,’ he said.

One by one I mentioned their names starting with Bong, Kris, his cousin Merla, Boyet, Daw, Inyong, Orang, his buddy Tito, Ping, myself, Dalin and Beth.

‘Nag-iba na rin mga mukha nila, lalo atang bumata,’ he said jokingly.

‘Wait, I’ll show you more,’ I said. ‘That’s Merlie, taken at Sta Cruz and that’s Danny and Charlie.’

‘Is this pareng Dondie now?’

With the laughters filling the air we remained seated side by side with each other under the roof of the makeshift, reminiscing life in Acoje, our main topic – high school life.

Then coming back clearly to my mind like a scene from the movie, I was Rolly’s sidekick watching a distant from where he stood as he spoke intimately with her high school sweetheart, Erlinda, the slim and attractive young girl of junior high school. Falling in love during high school was like munching a Cadbury – but I never had one until years after.

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‘Just give my regards to everyone ha,’ he said as Nonong started the tricycle’s engine once again, then as we slowly pulled away towards the town of Labrador, I received a text message from him, ‘What’s the name of the website again that you mentioned?’

Smilingly I typed in the URL and sent it. I knew he would soon hit the keyboard with the help of his three kids.