Collecting words

It’s one in the morning of my departure for the US, both of my luggages to be checked in are still open, while some of my clothes are strewn all over the living room.

So why am I blogging?

My fingers are prompted to glide across the keyboard, with the hopes of producing something sensible from the thirty minutes I am taking a break from packing. The forlorn character of Joe Pesci in the movie “With Honors” would collect pebbles to put in his pocket to remember significant moments in his life. This side of reality, somebody—me—chooses to collect words.

I just had one of the most stressful afternoons of my life. An author and an illustrator drop by the office to discuss a project with me which drags on until 15 minutes before my workday officially ends, a much-loved food—banana con hielo—is chilling for me in the freezer, a US-based friend I haven’t seen for three years surprises me with his appearance at our bookstore, and my desk is still a mess, with blueprints of books crying for my attention.

Thankfully, I survived the late-afternoon surge of stress that almost jolted the living daylights out of me. With much appreciation for reliable officemates, I was able to delegate work I couldn’t handle anymore. In record time, I swept my desk clean with a prayer uttered silently: “Lord, please don’t let me forget anything.” My only regret was not being able to taste even a spoonful of my snack.

But I did not regret catching up with J who waited for me till I called it quits with my day’s work. Over a dinner of Filipino food at Gerry’s Grill, we tried to cram three years’ worth of happenings over a few hours of talking. So many things have remained the same, yet so many things have changed too. Funny how life takes us in different directions and how in the middle of the road we stop and look back on where we once had been.

I think I’d end here. Several hours after I publish this post, I’d be sitting on a Northwest Airline cushioned seat. The next time my feet walks on the leveled ground again, something else will be making me breathless.