gesmunds
UTTERLY PROFOUND, YOUNGBLOOD article, Feb. 3, 2009

“HELLO,” I SAID SLUGGISHLY. MY BODY WAS SHAKING while I held the phone. It must have been the dreadful, chilly winds brought about by the harsh winter season.
“Hey, my dear! Did I wake ya?” was the quick energized response.
“yeah, ya did. What time is it? Where are ya?”

“I’m sorry. It’s a lil’ past three. I’m at a lil’ coffee shop down in Sunset.”
I didn’t even bother to ask him what he was doing in Hollywood hours before the crack of dawn. He should have been in bed, like other normal people.
While he mumbled for some time, I contemplated that my voice mail should have picked up his call. But the phone rang more than thrice. I thought it was a long distance call from back home and there was an emergency. The Philippines and Los Angeles had a 16-hour time difference, that’s why.
At any rate, I was awake.
Then he finally told me that I should closely listen to the story he was about to tell. He said it happened one afternoon after he go out of work and strolled around a park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wanting to relax, he sat down in one of the benches. Minutes later, he saw an old woman on a wheelchair and a baby on a stroller crossing diagonally right in front of him at the exact same moment.
“When life ends, life begins,” he said in a very soft voice.
For a brief moment, I was silent and my body trembled even more.

Even after our conversation ended, I was still in shock. A simple story, yet utterly profound. I couldn’t get back to sleep and ended up staring at the wall for hours and hours until I finally mustered enough strength to get out of bed and get ready for work.
In a sense, he had conveyed the power of moving forward and starting anew even when everything seemed to have fallen apart.
To top it all, it was just days after he gave me the most exquisite and precious Christmas present I have received so far: a small crystal figurine of a unicorn affixed in a mirrored glass. His words:

“The symbolism of the unicorn I picked out for you is of purity and innocence, kind of virginal, so to speak. The reason I got it for you is simple: I care about you. I wanted you to have something more genuine than a sweater, a dress, or some tacky present. But also so you would know that we might not be together forever, but I wanted to share with you the meaning behind the unicorn. Some day, when you’re having a hard time, look at the unicorn
and understand that everything will be okay. I know it doesn’t seem that way when you’re worrying about something or you are in a middle of a crisis, but unicorns do exist. God made them too. They bring hope along with a good prayer.”

To my amazement, he manifested immense spirituality. Although he never really pressed any specific religious teaching, he always managed to stir my soul.
Astonishingly, he has the gift of discernment. He has the ability to comprehend beyond the five senses. For instance, he foretold the quick recovery of a young lady who was run over by a car and was bound to a wheelchair after doctors insisted that she could never walk again. He also knew that I went to the beauty salon for a haircut although we had not seen each other for months.
Unbelievable as it may sound, he can quickly recognize the presence of a good spirit or an evil omen.
At one point or another, he played different roles in my life. He was a friend (and he still is). He was a lover. He was a teacher. He was the closest thing I ever had to a soul mate.

He made me realize the beauty in life in a world filled with chaos, injustice and selfishness. More significantly, he taught me something even greater: to have faith again, to believe again.
__________________________
Tara Yap, 27, works for a newspaper in Iloilo City and is also a research assistant for project-based researches in UP Visayas

>> i know you wont be coming back... just so you know.., remembering you gives me peace of mind,, as you always have...


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