A face to face reunion
By Rex Catubig
MY high school class celebrated its Ruby or 40th anniversary in 2005. Our class president Ramon Reyna wanted no less than the best and brightest. And after attending a preliminary meeting, I was prevailed upon to conceptualize the event.
I thought of a Western theme to recapture the adventurous spirit of the pioneers who journeyed westward in pursuit of the golden frontier. The City High alumni may be likened to these brave, romantic wanderers as they, too, left home to follow their dreams in the four corners of the world.
A decade later, and we were back to celebrate our Golden Jubilee. This time, we were seafarers yearning to come ashore “with sailboats in our hearts”.
It was a beautiful sight to see us in all forms of nautical regalia. And we were happy to have secured our moorings back in our old port.
As our Emerald 55th year drew close at hand, and our excitement was again rising to a crescendo, we were halted in our tracks. The Covid pandemic stopped the world, so to speak. Even our hearts had to pause and our homecoming reunion froze in time.
When the coast started clearing up, and life as we know it was set to resume, we came out to a different world. We ourselves have become different. Along the way, the wings of the eagle that held us aloft, seemed weighted by fear and reluctance. We weren’t as daring and enthusiastic as before. There was tentativeness and the drag of caution. As if we were being slowed down by a strong head wind.
Tonight, as revelry found itself anew in the city plaza for the year end alumni homecoming of our high school, I find myself in oddly strange surroundings. When I asked where our batch section was located, I was pointed to a desolate corner, a pathway actually leading to the senior citizen center. “All the ’60’s are supposed to be there”, the staff coldly explained.
Where once we bask on center stage, now we are being relegated to a no man’s land—there is not a table assigned to us, nor chairs to sit on to watch others party. There is not even any signage to identify us.
We have become nobody. Sadder still, my classmates are nowhere to be found.
The spirited homecoming reunions of the past with our lively classmates now seem like a movie in my mind. The reunion is now an encounter with one’s self, a reacquaintance with the once young, dynamic, popular, sought-after campus personage. There is a haunting lingering loneliness amid the boisterous festivity. All around, the bright lights illuminate the domed plaza. But in my corner, there is an unfathomable darkness only a loving heart could penetrate.
Tonight, I have only myself to reunite with. It’s not what it used to be; but I am home. Home is acceptance of what is.
(Erratum: The title of last week’s column should read “Who U?”. It was inadvertently titled “Why U? – Editor)
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