While I'm writing this, my eyes are getting more watery. I blame it all on two things: first, on a tube of Maybelline mascara which does wonders for eyelashes but are more horrific than "Night of the Living Dead" when it comes to taking the gunk off and second, the soap I used to get it out of my lashes.
My cousin Loida got married today. I waited for that point in the wedding service when Pastor Luces announced that Loida and her now-husband George were officially married before I changed I hyphenated her husband's last name on her contact entry in my phone. Whew! After 11 whole years of being an item, they were finally married.
Nene Loida and I along with our cousin Candy made up a trio of girls when were children. Maybe it was because they were the closest to me in terms of age difference and I really thought it would be cooler to hang out with my older cousins then instead of the young ones who I loved to call "the kids." I spent summer after summer with them. We'd take turns sleeping over in each other's homes and do the craziest things. We would paint our toenails or put make-up on each other's faces and see who'd make the best looking witch. We'd go out into the ricefields or go trekking somewhere in our slippers and then get scolded for not getting back in time for lunch. We'd try to stay up as late as we can just so we can experience what it's like to have a midnight snack - like drinking Sprite from an ice cream cone. We also spent one night putting a mole just above our upper lips like Madonna until we realized it was more fun to put additional moles or birthmarks all over our bodies with red pentel pen. I still snicker when I recall the sheer panic in Loida's mother's face when we emerged from her room in the morning to have breakfast because she seriously thought the three of us had chickenpox.
Nene Loida was the first one to have a boyfriend but Candy beat her to getting hitched. Now Candy has two children and when Loida finally told me she was getting married herself, I could only say "Finally."
Nene Loida asked me to sing during her wedding. Of course I said yes even if inside I wanted to say "no." The last time I sang for her was during her 18th birthday and in the middle of the song I broke down and started crying. I seldom cry in public and I certainly did not want to do that again. So this afternoon, when I walked up to the podium to sing "Two Words" for Loida and Manong George, I did not really dig deep into the lyrics and stuck my tongue out at the two of them in between verses lest my eyes start dripping again. I got through the song with neither the slighest quivering in my vocal chords nor the thinnest mistiness in one's eyes.
Of course if I end with that, I'd be lying. Because the truth is, the minute I saw her walking down the aisle in my grandmother's white dress and her long veil, my tear ducts started going hyper. I was standing next to my cousin Aiyi who could only say "Hala!" when the teardrops started to get seemingly inevitable. I blinked them back as best as I could as I thought of how long I labored over my eye makeup.
Even if I did manage to stop myself from morphing into an uncontrollable faucet, I did wish Nene Loida a life of happiness and contentment through misty eyes which had almost remained unnoticed.
The childhood girl trio with Manang Gracious
and two of the former "kids"
My cousin Loida got married today. I waited for that point in the wedding service when Pastor Luces announced that Loida and her now-husband George were officially married before I changed I hyphenated her husband's last name on her contact entry in my phone. Whew! After 11 whole years of being an item, they were finally married.
Nene Loida and I along with our cousin Candy made up a trio of girls when were children. Maybe it was because they were the closest to me in terms of age difference and I really thought it would be cooler to hang out with my older cousins then instead of the young ones who I loved to call "the kids." I spent summer after summer with them. We'd take turns sleeping over in each other's homes and do the craziest things. We would paint our toenails or put make-up on each other's faces and see who'd make the best looking witch. We'd go out into the ricefields or go trekking somewhere in our slippers and then get scolded for not getting back in time for lunch. We'd try to stay up as late as we can just so we can experience what it's like to have a midnight snack - like drinking Sprite from an ice cream cone. We also spent one night putting a mole just above our upper lips like Madonna until we realized it was more fun to put additional moles or birthmarks all over our bodies with red pentel pen. I still snicker when I recall the sheer panic in Loida's mother's face when we emerged from her room in the morning to have breakfast because she seriously thought the three of us had chickenpox.
Nene Loida was the first one to have a boyfriend but Candy beat her to getting hitched. Now Candy has two children and when Loida finally told me she was getting married herself, I could only say "Finally."
Nene Loida asked me to sing during her wedding. Of course I said yes even if inside I wanted to say "no." The last time I sang for her was during her 18th birthday and in the middle of the song I broke down and started crying. I seldom cry in public and I certainly did not want to do that again. So this afternoon, when I walked up to the podium to sing "Two Words" for Loida and Manong George, I did not really dig deep into the lyrics and stuck my tongue out at the two of them in between verses lest my eyes start dripping again. I got through the song with neither the slighest quivering in my vocal chords nor the thinnest mistiness in one's eyes.
Of course if I end with that, I'd be lying. Because the truth is, the minute I saw her walking down the aisle in my grandmother's white dress and her long veil, my tear ducts started going hyper. I was standing next to my cousin Aiyi who could only say "Hala!" when the teardrops started to get seemingly inevitable. I blinked them back as best as I could as I thought of how long I labored over my eye makeup.
Even if I did manage to stop myself from morphing into an uncontrollable faucet, I did wish Nene Loida a life of happiness and contentment through misty eyes which had almost remained unnoticed.
The childhood girl trio with Manang Gracious
and two of the former "kids"
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