my bestfriend’s wedding and the sputnik gang

This is not a review of Julia Roberts’ movie nor the kanto gang. It’s simply about the upcoming wedding of one of the best friends, Beng and all my hulabaloo  thoughts about it. Last Saturday, we organized a bridal shower and going-away party for her since she’s going to the US for good. Actually, I was in denial of the whole idea. Not in denial of her getting married and all but in denial of my feelings towards the whole thing.

Beng and I have been friends since freshmen years in LB. We were blocmates, batchmates, double-sisses, councilmate, housemates, BJs, travel buddies, name it. As I recall, most spontaneous things I did, I’ve done with her. Through the years, from freshmen orientation to quarterlife crisis confrontations, from simple pagtakas sa dorm trips, klepto days to long weekend travels and out-of-this-world escapades, Beng has been there, one of the few consistent people in my life. Whenever we are together, any place is a hash bar in disguise of a mall, resto, coffee shop. Name it. She’s one person who never fails to surprise me with her hilarious antics. Simply put, she’s a big part of my life and I don’t know if things will ever be the same once she leaves.

I am always too afraid to pray for an inspiration so instead of praying one for myself, I pray that my friends be the ones inspired. For Beng, since we have quite a similar outlook in life, I know that she can sometimes overlook the idea of being seriously involved with someone so for her I’ve always prayed that the right guy be somewhere out there. That’s why I am genuinely happy that she found the guy whom she thinks she’s willing to be committed with for the rest of her life.

Yesterday, after the bashful bridal shower, Beng, Joyce, Daisy and I (too bad Maui has an appointment she couldn’t afford to miss) went to UPLB to visit our former housemates (I’m not technically a housemate but I  practically stay in their house during our thesis days) and college friend, Pogs. Sputnik. Travel buddies. So it was a whole day of driving around, chikahan, laugh trip.

While driving around campus, we talked about the good old days we had. There’s a story in every building, street, tambayan, on-campus and off-campus sites.  I was telling them that if the concept of heaven in ‘5 People you Meet in Heaven’ is true, UPLB would definitely be my heaven, however, I told them that I felt that I already outgrew the yearning to go back to college. Inside, I was thinking that going there was the final impractical visit I would pledge as a closure to the place I so love.

We had a late lunch at Palaisdaan and attended mass at the makasaysayang St. Therese Chapel. During the mass, in the middle of a very upbeat church song, Joyce was crying over the idea Beng leaving and us losing touch of each other. I have not yet thought about it because lately we rarely  see each other to begin with and perhaps there won’t be much of a difference with Beng leaving. I plainly said that we can talk as often as we want through constant text, calls and IM chats and the thought the the other person is so much far away makes us check on the person more constantly that sometimes we know more of people who are far away than people you bump around too often. Just an idea to console her.

Later we kidnapped Pogs and went to Batangas and stayed overnight in our house. We had the pamorningan chikahans. Our way back to Manila we were all just laughing, giggling, non-stop gossiping ang chit-chatting. Only now I realized that her flight date is fast approaching. It’s not Beng marrying that saddens me because watching your bestfriend gets married is an unexplicable happiness. It is her leaving for US that pains me. I don’t mean to be selfish when I say that we will no longer have her in our gimiks and trips but her staying in the US with not much company that breaks my heart. She may be with her husband-to-be but US is a completely clean slate change for her. Plus, I hope she believes me when I say that us not knowing Carl much is also another tough part of letting go of her. I pray that she be genuinely happy and inspired. There are many things I want to say but I guess, no matter what I say, there isn’t going to be any better way to show our support for her than to let go and believe that she can.

*** 

Joyce and I had those heart-to-heart conversations I super miss doing with her. I haven’t realized how much I’ve missed her when we lost her to law school. She’s one person whose balakang and golden falsetto chikadora voice could not be replaced by some Indian copycats (Love you Joyce! Can’t help it. haha). And now I think that Beng is marrying Carl but Joyce has been married to law school for years and I have to go through losing touch of a dear friend again. I sincerely pray though that Joyce, Maui and I can have the periodic meet-ups for meet-ups sake because hearing your friends giggle, laugh, offend and get someone offended is simply priceless and way much better than laughing in front of a glaring monitor.

I’m practically near tears now. Missing the SATC-ish days with Bebang, Botchok at Bogart…