It’s all coming back to me now

A few days ago I was pleasantly surprised to receive a message from a classmate whom I last seen in 1984. She apparently accomplished this feat through Friendster. I was more pleased when I learned that a group of them had been in touch for months now, meeting regularly and trying to track down the rest of our small class (14 boys and 10 girls). Some, like me, are already based abroad but nevertheless in touch. The wonders of modern communication!

Up until I received Melissa's message I have wondered, from time to time, what happened to the rest of the earliest friends I made in the accelerated class program of M. Hizon Elementary School in Manila. After graduating my parents decided that I should be in Bulacan during high school so I said good-bye to the city, coming back only when it was time to go to university. By then I had lost track of all of them, as childhood friends who get separated often did. I remember it saddened me to think of them because high school was an excruciating experience for me.

I was a sheltered boy who was suddenly released in this jungle of adolescents who were older and bigger, more athletic, and more socially adept than me. Plus my teachers made it known that I was this 'gifted' child who skipped a grade in elementary, thus enhancing my alien-ness in this environment. Lacking what I think now as an adequate support structure (not even my parents understood me), my grades suffered and many times I felt that I would die before finishing high school. 

But I did finish high school, and after two turbulent years in university, my university life stabilized. My thoughts of dying at a young age dissipated, my study habits (and grades) improved, and I even began to acquire friends, which I considered to be the greatest feat. The friends I made in university are one of the oldest friends that I have now.

And now, I am faced with the very real possibility of renewing my ties with the friends I made when I was 9 years old. I have corresponded with a few of them, and I am excited with the possibility.

Incidentally, last night, I saw 'The Correspondents' on TFC and the story was on gifted children. It followed Shaira Luna, one of the most known Filipino gifted children because of she was featured in a series of TV ads for an infant formula. Contrary to most people's expectations, she didn't finish her college education, which she started at age 13. Pierced and tattooed, she now dabbles in photography. To the eyes of the people around her, she is rebellion personified. And I totally understand how she feels. There are parallels between the crises I went through as a young person and the ones that she is going through right now. 

Longing for missed childhood, remembering to try to have fun no matter what you do, taking time to stop and look at life, realizing that life is not always a horse race…

I wonder if any of my classmates had similar experiences. I guess I'll find out when I see them again, when we try to piece each others' lives for viewing and sharing.