Life's little surprises...

Last Saturday, Aug. 6, 2005, my sisters, cousins, friends, officemates flocked together to the ‘The Venue’ to watch MYMP’s concert here in Davao. As early as 6:00 pm, people were already lining up to get inside…all 2,500 tickets were sold out even a week before the event and rumors has it that they actually re-printed more just to accommodate the demand.

Anyways, I have a story to tell. Let’s just say that I am trying to reconcile those episodes in the past by sharing it with anyone (hahaha). Just bear with me….:-)

In March 2003, I was sent by our office to attend in a certain workshop in the Central Office. Looking back, I would say that I was still naïve and clueless.

Well, my cousins (whom I love so dearly despite their craziness) were conspiring in setting up a prank on me. All participants coming from the PROs were housed in Richville Hotel (somewhere in Shaw Blvd.). It was a two-day workshop, thus, I opted to stay at the hotel than at my uncle’s house in Pasay so as not to hassle anybody in driving me to and from. Kuya Bernard (Team Manager of Hapee/Kutitap teams) texted me that they’ll be picking me up from the hotel. I was with other PRO participants and Central Office counterparts that time, on our way to Rockwell for a gimmick. I had no choice but to bail out from our gimmick and so they dropped me off back to the hotel.

Unknowingly, my cousins were already at the hotel. They instructed a guy to fetch me up from my room. However, upon inquiring at the Front Desk, he learned that I wasn’t in yet. This guy was no other than Peter June Simon (he used to be with the MBA, played for Hapee & Kutitap teams in PBL, and now a certified PBA cager). He is being managed by my uncle, the same with Boybitts Victoria and Danny Ildefonso. Back in 2003, he was already ‘sikat’ and the personnel at the Front Desk instantly recognized him and the hotel guards as well. Words spread out that there’s a ‘personality’ within the vicinity. People passing by stopped and looked, passed smiles at him and others felt free in exchanging a few words or so….This went on long enough until my cousins discerned that he needed rescuing!hahaha (poor noynoy!)

That was the scenario that greeted us; I remembered one of my colleagues swearing, “Pucha, may artista ba?” Clueless as I was, I said, “those are my cousins!” I was so embarrassed. Then after bidding goodbyes to my companions and was already inside my cousin’s van, I asked, “Bakit ba nagkakagulo? May artista ba?” Their facial expressions were priceless…those were of pure shock and disbelieve! They couldn’t believe I didn’t know who I was sitting next to…in short, it took them ages to convince me that it was in fact Peter Simon and that he was "sikat"!hahaha

Recently after the MYMP concert, I was standing next to a guy. My brother told me in a hushed voice, “Nasa likuran mo si Peter Simon”. And I felt I was vacuumed back in 2003. I still did not believe it was him. So I called up my cousin and asked if indeed Noynoy Simon was in Davao. She said yes, and I was like, “Ohmigosh, he’s just standing next to me!” I was still on the phone with my cousin and I called out to him, “Hi Noy, do u remember me? blah,blah” And he smiled, he said “Yah I remember you…” We chatted for a while…he is still the same person that I met two years ago, very down to earth and accommodating.

My cousins, friends, sisters, myself, and Peter "Noynoy" Simon of Purefoods Team

So you’re probably asking what the moral of the story is, it is this: Life has a lot of little surprises that somehow leave marks in our heart and mind that continually enrich us by the memories of such moments...