Mal (not her real name). My first love, it’s her birthday today, January 17, Saturday. I said my final “Goodbye!” to her some 65 years ago, when I got married to a girl whom I really loved and who loved me fully in return and made me sire of 13 children. (original image from sg.images.search.yahoo.com): Tina, Jomar, Dida, Teresa, Cynthia, Jay, Dinggoy, Jenny, Neenah, Edwin, Daphne, Ernie, Ela,
I wanted to
say Goodbye! Properly as a decent human being – yes, I am sure there was love
between the two of us: the girl from Lucena City, the boy from Asingan, Pangasinan.
But it didn’t work out like we expected – because of Mal’s relationship
mistake. It happened this way:
Mal and I were already engaged to be a couple (not yet
to be married) when she committed what I took to be a grave sin and made me
very angry! It happened like this:
She invited me to their town fiesta. Of course to the fiesta
dance. So my feet were aching for the first dance. When the music began (it’s
been so long ago I have forgotten the title), I got ready to take her as my
first partner. But! Some had already picked her up and they were now dancing
even before I reached her group.
That made me mad, very angry! Her first
dance was mine, not some other guy who liked her!
I felt my face burning. To cool me down, I went
to the backroom and splahed my face with the cold water flooding the big
containers holding the softdrnks and beer.
I went back to the dance when I was feeling a
little more comfortable. But the night has been ruined for me – by my own
girlfriend!
You know what? To attend that fiesta, I had to travel
from Asingan, Pangasinan, my hometown, where I was now teaching high school,
having graduated with a BS Agricultural Education (BSAed) from the College of Agriculture, University
of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna.
Many years
later, I found my true love: Amparo Medina Reynoso.
And as of the last count, we have 13 children. (Mal got married to another
man.)
