Freline

a lot of us may overtime at work, but nobody gets lesser rest time then Freline. She punches in at before 8 am. She has to leave before 4 pm so she won't be late for her class, which ends at 9 pm. It takes her almost an hour to commute to her home. When she arrives, she still has to do her part of the household chores plus her schoolwork.

yet, she comes in at the office with a smile. she greets everyone with a half-diffident smile. she meets our guests at the showroom to offer drinks with a well-practised, "Would you like anything to drink, Sir?" and with a smile so shy yet visibly there. she serves coffee or juice with a smile. and nobody even tells her to do so.

Freline is one of the young college-level girls we have taken to calling the "show room girls," though technically she is the only one in-charge of keeping the showroom spic and span while the other girl, Mirali, is in-charge of the office. At home, she is one of 13 children. Like her name, her 12 siblings have monikers that start with the letter F.

"Ka creative sad sa imo mama, nakahimu siya'g 13 names nga nagsugod og letter F?!" I exclaimed when she told me. I suggested that her mother may have got her name wrong. Perhaps, her name was inspired by the Sound of Music's Fraulein Maria (which literally translates to Little Miss Maria). she said no, and that her mother really intended her to be called Free-line.

Aside from her mother's naming method, we didn't talk any more about her family. She told me about her plans. She is taking up Hotel and Restaurant Management so she could carry on with her dream (not just a plan) to work in a cruise ship. This was before the schoolyear 2008-2008 started. At that time, she told me she would stop working at the company when school starts so she could focus on her studies. But well into the 1st half of the semester, she's still there, feather-dusting the furniture, sweeping the floor, waiting on the guests. I need not ask her why as she volunteered herself, "Dili nalang ko muhunong ate uy kay para makatabang ko sa ako mga ginikanan."

I wonder how many college-level employees are struggling out there to carry on with their dreams. I wonder how many among these struggling college-level employees actually make it through and realize their dreams. I'm positive that Freline is certain about what she wants, how much she wants to get it, and what the stones she needs to step on to arrive there are. But I couldn't really tell; each of us could only take so much. With Freline's circumstances, how much really could she take? I could only hope she has enough strong nerves in her litheness to stop her from letting go.

I hope what she earns at the company will be enough to sustain her and her dreams. Or better yet, I hope she gets wait-listed in the company's newly-implemented scholarship program (for which I have to salute my boss, Sir Kenneth). I hope this program is not discriminating against those in the lower positions. What matters, isn't it, is not the distance one is at ahead of the others, but how those behind and anybody is willing to get ahead in life. I see this willingness in Freline by the way she carries out even the most menial tasks and by the way she talks about life like its a cruise in the Caribbean. I hope life sees her on the same cruise.