Coffee date with Mary, Pearl and Tita Cora

Sunday, August 22 at Shangrila Mall - Got this e-mail message from Mary three weeks prior to this date that she's in Manila for a month-long visit.  The last time I met up with Mary was two years ago also in the same mall.  She was with Rodri, her Argentinian boyfriend, at that time.  They got married last spring; hence, her visit is a welcome surprise for everyone.  

Well, Mary is my senpai (senior) who read and did preliminary reviews of my thesis; gave countless advice on how to survive Katayama sensei and Kobe University's GSICS and sat through our weekly zemi class for two years listening patiently to my presentation opening, "The BIR is the country's premiere tax collection agency...."    In short, Mary is somebody who makes me think of Kobe, Japan with fondness and nostalgia.  

The date was arranged so that Mary can finally give us the answers to such questions as - how was the proposal and the wedding; who attended the ceremony and was Katayama sensei there to stand as Ninong.  Stuff that are really important and requires a trip to Manila to give us all the juicy details.  Mary provided us with the answers and shared anecdotes on her married life with Rodri in Tokyo.  Plus, I got some updates from Pearl on her Pol Sci students in Diliman, her married life with Jay-jay and the challenges of caring for her sick father.  Bonus is that I got to meet Tita Cora and learned about her advocacies on the environment and healthy lifestyle among others.  I listened as she narrated with candor her family's daily struggles and adventures in surviving Manila after more than 10 years of living and working in Japan.    

More than the conversations with these three beautiful women, I also enjoyed the dango (Japanese sweets) that Mary shared with us as well as the Mary Grace lemon squares that she gave as our takeaway pasalubong.  

Then Monday morning on August 22, the hostage taking happened.  I look back and think that back then, less than 24 hours ago, things were much easier to analyze.  That somehow, with our graduate degrees from Japan, we can help solve the Philippine problems.  

Maybe, we were given such snatches of mundane conversations with our friends to realize how lucky we all are and that we really have to savor every thing that life offers.  For after such brief moments, we go back to facing more difficult tasks.  Forging ahead or just battling the "everyday-ness" of things.