Before I left for Japan, I only had one airplane experience. It was when my family and I traveled from Manila to Cagayan de Oro in the summer of 1999. It was thrilling enough for me to know that my second travel by air was international.
If my memory serves me right, I, together with my parents and my brother, left Jimenez, my hometown, on August 30, 2002 for Cebu City. It was there that I was to take a plane to NaritaInternational Airport in Japan. We however had to change planes in NAIA in Manila.
In Cebu, as we had more than a day to spare. We bought some stuff that I would need in Japan, and toured around the city. I also bought stuff like key chains and paper weights with Filipino themes and styles which I planned to give to friends that I would make.
I and my family also spent some time with my godsisters and their (and my) friends. They were the ones who helped me around the city when I processed my Student Visa some months back. We all went to the mountain resort called The Top from where you can see the city and its glittering night lights. We just hanged out and talked there.
That was on a Saturday night and I was to leave the country in two days. Realizing that I would be away for the next ten months, I started to strike conversations with those who were with me.
The only scene that night that is still vivid in my memory is a conversation I had with Dianne – one of my godsisters and an ex-girlfriend (well, we were young and things did not go quite well). Her favorite song was (and maybe still is) “It Might be You” by Stephan Bishop. With all the courage I could muster, I asked her what her favorite line was in her favorite song. She said she would like to keep it to herself and said sorry. I did not have the guts to tell her what my favorite part of the song was. It was: “… wishing there would be someone waiting home for me… and I’m feeling that it might be you…”
Since then I have been wondering how things might have been if I had told her.
The next day, I and my family went to church at Bradford UCCI. She was also there attending the service. I can’t remember what the sermon was all about or delivered it. All I remembered that day was that she looked lovely in her red dress (although months later, when I told her that I was going to tell her that day that she looked lovely in her red dress, I said she does not have a red dress)
Monday, the 2nd of September 2002, the day of my departure, came. I woke up early and prepared myself and my things. My family sent me off to the airport in Mactan around noon time. It was there that we said our good byes.
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