Lockdown has been semi-lifted here in the Philippines but yes, not because it's safe already but to prioritize the economy and the businesses. Sadly, this is not what most people take of it and they started to gather round outside even if it's clearly unsafe yet and the numbers are not getting any lower. So I still stay at home, for 66 days now to be exact, without leaving our gates. Thanks to my brother who gathers our supplies from the outside world. And with all this time, I surely miss a lot of people, especially my best friends.
I have been blessed to have a lot of friends that are true to me and very caring and tested through out the years. But the closest ones I have aside from my college friends are who I call my Life Long friends. because we literally are life-long friends since we have all been classmates since Kindergarten until High School. We are a group of 8, 7 classmates since kinder - RJay, Judy, Stevenson, Myrcel, Lea, Faith, and Ivy - then we were joined by our best friend Dianne who moved to our school after Elementary graduation.
2002 - A photo of us seven during 6th grade
They will probably kill me when they saw that photo. We all parted ways during college because we took different degrees and went to different universities but we still kept in touch at times but not as much as when we all graduated college when we started to spend more time together again.
2010 - Dinner at Tagaytay with our best friend Ferdie
When we all started working and had our own jobs, we usually get together every other weekend. We are usually joined by our best friend Ferdie who was our class Valedictorian and the best cook in our group. We are the kind of friends who are not into drinking or clubbing, we all just want to eat and eat and eat! And through the years we also started to travel together around the country.
2015 - Camiguin, Philippines
2017 - Notice how we maintain our positions :)
Two of the group have married already and started their families but that does not stop us from making time for each other as much as we can be complete. Ivy got married last 2015 and now lives in Mindanao, the largest island on the south of our country, with her husband and two daughter. Faith got married last 2018 and now lives in Cebu another major island in the central Philippines with her husband Marvin. Lea flew to the Middle East to work there as a nurse, and Dianne was relocated to Paris by her company.
Our 2019 Photoshoot
The one above was the last time we were altogether, January of last year. When Ivy was home from Mindanao, Lea was home from Kuwait, Faith has not yet moved to Cebu, and Dianne was still fixing her papers for Paris. My heart will always be happy whenever I think about all of us together again, they are my Home. We would have been this summer actually because Lea and Dianne were planning to get here in August if not for the virus and Faith can always fly here as long as we tell her in advance and all seven of us would have flown to Mindanao to complete our 8 at Ivy's.
It's very sad that I know, they all want to be home as well to be with their families here but they just can't. So last Monday, I thought of singing another song, this time dedicating it for all the Filipinos abroad who will trade anything just to be here and back home in our country they call home. I hope you all would like it, we all long for home.
***
I would love to welcome and invite everyone to join this new Linky that I thought of starting - Timeless Thursdays. (Bear with me for any short-comings, this is my first link ever)
Timeless Thursdays is open for anyone who wishes to share old photos or old thoughts that you would like to share as beautiful memories with everyone. This can be from yesterday, a year ago, or something from your grandma's treasure chest.
This runs every Thursday at 12 am (Manila/Perth Time) until Wednesday the same time (12 am)
Dearest Stevenson,
ReplyDeleteThat is so wonderful that you all still aim to be together for catching up on each other's life.
Great for always standing in sequence; each having his/her own spot!
There always will be a next time and we can sure look forward to that and dream...
Hugs,
Mariette
PS hope you get more than 5 views on your video at the time I watched it...
Thank you very much for those encouraging words Mariette. I am with you on that and firmly believe in my heart that the Lord will bring us all back again together for a day or two in the coming years and that would be enough love until the next reunion comes.
DeleteThank you so much Mariette, so nice of you! I hope those who will watch it would like the song :)
💞
Delete...the safety of people has never really been important, the economy it what is important! We just pickup groceries at a small local store, they took our order over the phone and bright the order out to our car!
ReplyDeleteYes and Yes Tom! Especially for the leaders of governments such as ours, that is top priority! Ughhhh. I am happy that you have that pickup service for your groceries. I am also planning to get an air-conditioning unit soon and hoping I can get it from a store where my former student works at but it's on a neighboring city and we are not sure if we will be accepted there since we don't have 'passes' for that city.
DeleteOh, this was such a fun post to read...and love seeing your pics through the years.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy you like and enjoy the post Rose :) Me too! I always browse our old photos whenever I miss them all :)
DeleteWow! Stevenson ~ this such a wonderful song and your singing is so soothing ~ great! ~ Do hope your group of friends come together real soon ~ Close friends are what life is all about ~^_^ ~ And your photos are a treasure of a loving and healthy group of friends~ Lots of hugs to you ~ (even though I am old enough to be your Mother or even grandmother ~ LOL)
ReplyDeleteDon't get discouraged takes time to build a following ~ it will come ~
Be Well, Be Safe,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Carol! You made me super happy with your comment! I am so happy that you like my singing, that means a lot haha Love the hugs, thank you so much dear Carol!!! Thank you for your wishes to me and my friends I really wish to see them and I usually get so emotional whenever my birthday gets near because they are the ones I always want to celebrate it with.
DeleteThank you so much Carol, will continue this Linky as much as I can :) Happy Thursday!
Stevenson
Tu me manques tous :)
ReplyDeleteTeh nagustuhan mo ba ang aking munting handog sa inyo HAHAHAHA papakuha ko sana ung pic mo ng Miss India ka sa United Nations kay Zab eh tapos lalagay ko sa pic naming 7, kaso baka mamurder mo ako! hahaha Miss you teh and ingat palagi!
DeleteIt's so great to have friends ... someone you can share everything with, laugh or cry ... hold and comfort ... I'm jealous of you! My school friends have flown into the world for a long time ... They are in Canada, America but also Japan, but some are also passed away!
ReplyDeleteYou must cherish this beautiful friendship forever!
That was such a great post to read, and to see your friends.
Enjoy yor day, have fun Steve!
Ella you made me so happy and touched with your comment, thank you very much! I know even if you don;t see some of your friends often, as long as you all remember each other, you remain friends forever :) Thank you so much and you are correct, they are one of my biggest blessings in life :)
DeleteWow, lucky you, Stevenson - I know no one of my classmates anymore!
ReplyDeleteI remember before my Mum died we were at a café, outside and she pointed to an old woman, saying, see, this is Garnet.
She looked OLD. We went to school together, were friends, what did she do??? Happened with another who recognized me, but I had no clue, he was "an old man". (Drugs involved, my Brother told me).
That is a gift you still have contact! When I come to my old hometown... I only know the one I link to in your meme - hope you don´t mind it´s an "old" post, but doesn´t that suit the meme? ;-)
Beautiful you still get together - soon again! - and I love your song, dear friend!! So true, your song.
Just talked to a Perth friend via Facebook for the first time this morning, it was wonderful. I hate my voice, but hearing hers was wonderful. And I got "homesick".
Ok, you come here and clean my glasses from the tears you caused with your song! ;-)
Iris that is so nice and sweet of you! Thank you so much dear friend and it always makes me super happy when my friends appreciate my singing and that means a lot to me Iris! I feel so sorry about your friends that looked older :(
DeleteOh please do! please link your old posts of timeless memories and photographs to Timeless Thursdays and I very much appreciate them so well! I am so happy for you that you got to reconnect with your friend from Perth and I am sure she is also very happy! Reunions even through video calls or audio calls are always priceless! Love them so much!
Oh, Stevenson, being a "doll" is sometimes not funny! 5th grade boys picked me up, yelled to another "here she comes" and threw me to the boy in question. All always went well, but it was a pian. Being small is not funny...
DeleteI always wished for an older Brother and that baby there turned into one! So many times he helped me out!
We helped out each other, oh, wait, we still do! :-)
Glad you at least had your cousin!
My Brother´s Daughters take so much after him/me his wife "hates" me.
Where ever we go people assume my Nieces are my kids. Not my fault.
I somehow understand her disappointment but... not my fault, so yes, my Brother and me look alike a lot.
Just.
I have my hair on my head, he´s got it on his chin, LOL!!! But both red.
And guess. I went through posts and gathered for your meme, too :-)
Oh My! Now you are right, that must have been scary especially being thrown! What if the other one won;t catch you and you drop and get hurt. But I am very happy that your brother turned to be a protective one and much more happy to hear that you guys are always there for each other now! Family is a treasure, truly!
DeleteHahahaha so they all have red hairs too that is super cute! When I was younger, I used to try on different hair colors and they say the best one. I think it's this hair (when I still have a lot of hair HAHA)
great to have lifelong friends...
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing video.
I agree to that Tanza, and thank you so much for appreciating the post and the song :)
DeleteWhat a friendship. They are the ones who know you inside out and off course you have each others' shoulders to lean on.
ReplyDeleteI have this similar connection with my high school friends. There are 10 of us, 5 men and 5 women. We hang out a lot at high school, separated since we entered into uni life. We only have a chance to meet during Eid celebration, that's if I can go home during the Eid.
I hope your friends can be reunited again with the family soon
Hello my friend Cipu! Thank you so much and you are absolutely correct! They know me so well that even if I don't speak words, they know if I am happy or pissed or whatever with just a look HAHA
DeleteI am happy you also have a group of friends and at least you can still see them during Eid, though I know this year's Eid will be a challenge. Even here in the Philippines, the Eid on Monday is a holiday but I feel sorry for my Muslim friends that they may not celebrate it the way they usually do due to the virus.
Thank you my friend and I hope you see your friends too!
Wow, you don't lack comments! And you are getting around, I see comments from you all over the place.Time lacks me. Frustrating sometimes. I thought when I'm older I have more time. it's the opposite. (I probably was still asleep when you commented - hardly any sleep this night) Many thanks for that honest evaluation about your country, referring to the foreign interference I talked about:) You know prayer is the most powerful force on earth? It makes things possible, that would normally be impossible. Pray for your president:)
ReplyDeleteThese are fun group photos, Steve, and great you could keep in contact with your friends. That was hard at one long time ago, moving to the States. Fortunately, it's actually easier in the US to become friends with someone than it is in the Netherlands.
Thank you so much dear Jesh! Thank you so much for joining Timeless Thursdays, your comments always gives me joy! I feel sorry with your lack of sleep but I hope you can get more on leaner days. I am also surprised that I can get to comment and visit lots of blogs of my blog friends like you and you know how I comment like I say a lot of things which I hope doesn't bother the blog authors hahaha
DeleteOh Jesh that is absolutely true! Like now, that is the only thing yet a very powerful one that we can do. And I do pray for our president and all his people that seems to feed him as well with decisions that are not very pro-Filipino.
Thank you so much and yes, growing up made us all dispersed in the world but just like siblings we always get in touch with each other through group chats on messenger :)
Happy Weekend dearest Jesh!
Keeping a group of friends together like that is really amazing. One of my aunts kept her same friends for all her life. Many other people I know have changes throughout their lives and move to new places all the time.
ReplyDeletebe well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
That is amazing Mae! I love how your Aunt is the same as I am but I very much understand those who have changed their circles as well :) I have them and I also have my college classmate circle too :)
DeleteStay Safe Mae!
Muchas Gracias mi Amigo! Amistad es para siempre :)
ReplyDelete