Reuniting With An Old High School Friend

Well, I am glad I have reconnected with a former high school classmate who apparently is doing a fellowship study in Japan. This guy amazes me a lot, even when we were in high school.

It all started when I asked him to be featured as an emulating person in the "Personality Section" of my self-moderated Facebook group wall called "Passi City Bulletin" which I dedicatedly presented to my fellow hometowners in Passi City.

I am also glad that he did not declined my request then messaged me his curriculum vitaes to me where I can get some information to be included in the bio-article. It was just so easy for me to formulate the article because of the rigid organization of his achievements from past to present.

I also had time to see his writings (travel blogs)on his Facebook wall and at the same time browsed his pictures and albums. I was so impressed of what he had accomplished and now he is a doctor of philosophy. Good job my friend!

Well, there's no doubt about it because inherently I've known him to be very intelligent and studious when we were in high school. He was very persistent and diligent in his studies. He is one of the smartest student in my high school class. And he was also very humble as a person.

Reuniting with him online was a breath of fresh air because I never thought we could be meeting online. I can sense his sincerety and eagerness to tell me his stories. I was very happy to have reconnected with him after our last meeting when we were still studying at West Visayas State University.

My memories about him was dated during our Freshman years was when we were having a class at the bleachers near the high school grounds during our Physical Education class with Mr. Muyco and he was always nodding and saying "oh yeah, oh yeah" when the teacher explains something.

I also remember how smart he was during our science classes, no wonder he ended up majoring Science for his Education Course. He is also very adept in Math and Social Studies. A cunning person with a sharp memory.

He was a very consistent honor student until our sophomore years. I also remember during our second year when Miss Salaya requires us a book report and he was very jittery about it. He finished reading a big novel and able to discuss it in front of our teacher yet he was given a hard time by Miss Salaya. I saw his face with a sigh of relief after he got out of the room

Then the following year during our Junior years he did not re-enroll. I ended up looking for him but we didn't know where he went. Nobody knows where he re-enrolled.

There were rumors that he had gotten a girl pregnant and that his parents had to have him stop going to school and some said he got sick big time requiring him to have rest for several months.

There were also rumors that his family has to move to another place because they're not lucky where they used tolive and also some says that his parents could not afford sending him to school because there were many of them in the family.

Whatever reasons why he was no show during our junior years we didn't really know what it is. Then all the questions were answered after two years when I bumped on him at West Visayas State University when I enrolled there for my Nursing Education. We actually saw and talked each other all the time during our ROTC class.

He had explained to me that he had finished his high school at Iloilo National High School and had graduated as the class salutatorian. I was so happy that we were reunited again for the first time as students in the same university although we took different courses. We always bumped each other at the library if not at the science building.

After college graduation we never saw each other again not until I saw his profile at Facebook and invited him as my friend. Then there we bumped each other again for the second time.

Time really flies by and we never knew what happened to us after several years but I was so happy that he had accomplished a lot in his life. He was happily married and has four beautiful kids. He had also finished his Ph.D. with high honors and he had been traveling around the world through his own efforts of acquiring scholarship grants to foster his high level education.

So far so good my friend. I am very proud of your exemplary achievements. I salute you of your tenacity to find means in fostering your graduate studies through scholarship grants to put yourself in a higher echelon of educational learning. Without your persistence, diligence, and dedication all of these could not be realized.

Now, that I am reconnecting with you, hope we could be more close and chatty just like we were in the past. I mean our status in life are improving yet I know we were still the same as a person refusing to leave our childish ways sometimes. You know what I mean.

You were admiring me before and now I am admiring you. You are an inspiration to all of us and we are not seeing you as the former "Itik" I have known but as a successful and professional Dr. Handa right now. You always keep yourself grounded and I am delighted that you did not change.

Thanks for accepting my friendship again and hope we can have a longer chat sometime. Hope you more success along the way and keep doing what you wanted to achieve more in life. Defy old age and reap more honors for your future advantage. Good luck!