Ida Mae Larrazabal

i had a nice chat with my cousin by birth and all-time friend ida. i think i have to mention this since she's found this site and even bookmarked it. awww.... in grade school, we used to schedule house visitations on weekends. mostly it was at her house. no longer sure why exactly (was it because her father didn't want her out always?), but it didn't matter. her house sat on a huge lot, and there were many things we could do. we would play with her mother's plants, or run to the end of their back garden, to the small gate that opened to the groto with a huge Mama Mary facing the rest of the baranggay Nadongholan. or we would hang out in her room, scan books, talk, play with barbie dolls, go thru the collections she shared with her sisters. or stay downstairs and listen to the piano (with her playing on it of course). those were the good times.

she gave me chinchin in grade 5. at first, my parents didn't want chinchin but i cried my heart out. when they found out chinchin was a terrier, they changed their minds. chinchin wasn't chinchin then of course. my mother gave chinchin that name, to chinchin's despair. chinchin?!? but i would grow to love that name, or maybe, only the one who carried it.

chinchin made me fall in love with dogs. or maybe not all dogs. chinchin was the only dog i only really loved. the others were mere attempts to bring that much fascination back. but didn't work out with the ones who followed: poochie (she ran away) and now, twoshe (has her own world). chinchin was my bestfriend. she died in 2005 to a hit and park.

ok so that's what ida gave me. a friend.

she moved to cebu in high school. we would trade books, but distance wouldn't trade time with us. i think the most we saw of each other at that time was once a year, during summer. same with college. i moved to cebu and she moved to manila. i think we always knew we both still existed, and our past closeness made that matter (not once did she forget to greet me on my birthday). but that didn't change the condition that we were separated by distance, growth, interests, and well, dreams.

we would eventually finish schooling. ida's back in ormoc to prepare for another year of schooling (in scotland, no less). and i'm still stuck here in cebu to prepare for the great vague world (on earth, no less). we now talk more often than i ever remember we did. i'm sure we logged in more hours in grade school but i don't remember much from that. 8 years of near silence counted for something, i guess. but the good thing is that we both grew up from that. now, we're bringing into our friendship all that we have learned along the way. i'm glad at the end, we were to meet again.

~~~
I originally wrote this for my other blog, www.ilovemyupper.blogspot.com on February 13. On Sunday, September 7, 2008, Ida will be leaving for Scotland to study Music Technology and Acoustics at the University of Edinburgh. Have the time of your life, Id. Sorry if my broken promises and seeming aloofness may have given grounds for your doubts on what your friendship means to me. :)