'We laughed and shared our thoughts, our frustrations, our dreams, and bonded in a sisterhood founded on love of reading and writing, actually on love as a feeling and a subject.'
Calling ourselves First Draft, we met monthly at first, then bimonthly for 10 straight years, critiquing each other’s work over meals in each other’s homes and later in restaurants we wanted to explore—we were sort of food adventurers, too.
Some months ago, we started planning a reunion around Gilda’s birthday on June 4, but, taking long to find a day we could all be free, we overshot the occasion by more than two weeks. The planning had been all done by e-mail, since the one in charge, Rita Ledesma, refuses to own a cell phone, as a matter of principle.
Gilda, for one thing, was turning 89. She arrived in a wheelchair with her caregiver. She was undeniably weaker and less responsive, but the endearing naughtiness remained evident in that knowing smile. Her seemingly poreless skin was youthful and flawless since the day I met her—long before First Draft.
Mariel Francisco and I had bumped into each other at political events during the campaign, and, being on the same side, we consoled each other in defeat. Edna Manlapaz and I had somehow never lost touch, managing a breakfast now and then. It was Peng who suggested we meet every other month. I’m a lousy organizer, but I’m willing to do it for the next one in August, Edna’s birthday month, which should include July-born, Mellie, whom Vergel and I are more often with.
I guess men don’t feel comfortable baring their heart and soul over lunch, much less witnessing us women do it. After women pour out their sentimientos, they feel better already. Not so the men; they feel bitin, and must do something about it—now that it’s out there! This seems the reason men’s relationships, though concededly deeply rooted in camaraderie, are hardly intimate, usually good only over sports or poker, and, if at all, self-revelatory only fueled by drinks.
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