Reflection

“I've seen her before”, was what I've said when I saw a petite lady in the train the other day.

It was a cold- boring weekend and I was listening to “Eyes on Fire” by Blue Foundation when I glanced on a lady carrying a pomme d' amour rosewood vernis LV bag. She's fair and she looks vain. I know I've seen her before . Few seconds, she caught me looking at her. She sweetly smiled and raised her right eyebrow after.

I was thinking, “did she also notice me?”

Few years back, she was the studious type of girl. Her life's dedicated to school and family. She topped the exams several times- from her prime years to her secondary. She was brought up by an ex-military-lawyer, her grandfather, to whom she got her looks and intelligence from. Her grandmother, whom she considered her real mom, was a classy businesswoman from whom she got her elegance and sense of style. She was brought up to be a disciplined, focused, sophisticated girl. I even remembered seeing a picture of her at the age of 3- sitting down with her legs elegantly crossed. She knows the right time to study and to receive phone calls. Unlike the other young girls who played outside with pals, she never had that so much privilege to do that. She was trained to read books at the age of 3, ballet at the age of 4, memorizing multiplication table at the age of 5 and singing at the age of 6. She was so enthusiastic about all these. Her toys include wiz kid (computer thing with spelling and IQ quizzes), a big bear, lego and abacus.

She had a boyfriend at the age of 12. She was madly in love with him. They burned the phone almost everyday for a year until they broke up. She was a silly-obsessive girl. She doesn't allow him to play badminton and basketball. She wanted all his time to be hers. He got so upset. She did everything to win him back. Unfortunately, things didn't go well and she experienced her first heart break.

She studied in a prestigious school in college. It was not that hard for her to choose a program because her grandma would always encourage her to be like grandpa. It wasn't difficult to pass the entrance exams, too since she was the First Honorable Mention in her secondary years inspite of her busy extra-curricular schedule. She was also a Dean's list that time. Her junior-adult life was very meaningful. Several challenges were exerienced by her family. Their house was deteriorated by fire. They turned from a millionaire to an average family. The entire clan had a difficult time moving on. Instead of being bound together, they chose to be separated from one another. She continued studying inspite of the economic down-turn they underwent- from being “Ms. Rich and Famous” to “Ms. Rags-no-riches”. Her grandmother's truly admirable. She was able to sell some of the vehicles, properties and businesses to re-build the house and for their continued education.

Before all this turmoil at the age of 16, she met another guy. Sensible, lavish, popular and fashionably romantic. He came from a good family. She went out with the guy for 5 years until she graduated college. They spent good times together, with an affluent life-style. She never thought that the reason for their break-up will be his unknown weakness to temptation. Since they were both committed at a young age and was almost thought of getting married, there was no space for both of them to enjoy anybody's company. They were exclusive to each other, so it's an obvious expectation that his thrill to be with another, caused him to be disloyal. The break up almost ruined her life. She got confined for a close-to-death gastric problem and she had a hard time recuperating a colon problem and a heart problem at the same time. She was too dependent on him that it made her crawl like a baby when he left her. Again, she tried all means to win him back, yet, he realized her worth when she found a new love. “I am never going back to this situation ever again!”, this was what she exactly said.

She met someone in her first job. A very nice guy, popular, from a good and prestigious family. He showed her love like no one else would. Though, this new guy's aware that she was still mending a broken heart, he consciously took part to help her. This is how nice he was. She tried to break-up with him several times since she doens't want to be unfair. She knew that she still loves the 2^nd and would like to get her self out of the past, alone. He never allowed.

Her career went on high after the break-up. She became a manager of a big outsourced company. She was too busy and more likely was misunderstood by him. Time and attention brought their 2-year relationship to an end.

After 3 years, she met a new guy in the new office. Simple but smart. She learned so much from the previous relationships she had. She knew that the guy was opt to play. She never took him seriously. She opened herself to dating other guys so she might carefully choose who to spend the rest of her life with. In her attempts to date guys of the same kind as before, she ended up being invited to Boracay by an entirely different type of guy. She went out with the simple IT guy who puzzled her so much. Aside from the confidence, of going up to her to invite someone as vain and unapproachable as she was that time in a luxurious date, she fell for the guy's transparency and simplicity. She was astounded by his maturity and industry. He didn't come from a well-off family, as what he said, but he was able to finish school, send his young bro to a nursing school, was able to buy a house and to establish a living for his parents. He and his sister did all these to give a better life to their retired parents. Unable to cope up with her lifestyle, he went abroad because he made up his mind to marry her in the next days to come. He suffered from pain, singularity and lonesome abroad just to give her a good life. She was pirated by another company and was being paid the big bucks. Both of them survived the long distance love affair, until..

A death of a friend made her move to Canada. He didn't allow this to happen so he got her to where he is. She gave up her high-profiled job just to be with him. Her parents were really mad at them but they were able to take all the pains and sufferings together. They reached a point where they've got no bread anymore. They experienced being troubled by debts. They sacrificed luxury for togetherness. They met God, thereafter. It was not an easy journey but they were able to fight the battle with complete submission and loyalty to HIM. She found a job and he got absorbed by the government. They were both earning more than what they thought. Ups and downs still continue but they were able to take the rough journey.. together. They stood the test of time, distance and differences.

It was a cold- boring weekend and I was listening to “Eyes on Fire” by Blue Foundation when I was riding a train and have glanced on a mirror.. a reflection.. I then realized that the lady... in this story... was ME...