Trailblazer

I was still a child and she was already driving her own car. When she chose to live independently, she went to Singapore while I was still working at the Japanese factory in Canlubang. Years later, I lived in Tokyo while she packed her bags in Singapore and went back to Alabang. After 6 months in Japan, I did the same and went back to work in Ortigas. By the time I had my own car, she was in graduate school, and one day, called to tell me she was going to tell C that she is going to New York and that she loved him, even if things were difficult for them. She did, even if C's secretary wouldn't take her calls so when I told her to go after the man she loves, she just drove from Alabang to Greenhills to tell him that, and flew off to New York. In a month's time, C followed her in New York and then to Canada.

You see, Lei is always one step ahead of us. She would make her mark and blaze a trail. Not that she wanted to, she just did what she wanted and in the process inspired others to find out who they are and be the best they could be. At least she had that effect on me. She's almost like a man, practical, rational and ambitious. But in the same sense, she's the modern woman because she pursued open doors and opportunities without thinking that she's a woman, or that it mattered if she was a woman, a Filipina at that.

Seven years after I last saw her, we kept in touch through emails and instant messengers and Friendster. After all, she's a friend worth keeping, and friends keep in touch in spite of the distance. Now she's been to the Bahamas, Europe, navigated the United States, and is now working on a new career path. A tough act to follow, indeed so I just made sure I drove all the way from work on a traffic-jammed December weekday all the way to Alabang to see her. She's my friend. She has made me shine, supported my journeys, shared my success or setbacks, loved the people I loved, and made me think a woman's life is best lived if we just did. Live life the best way we could, that is.

Thanks Lei, for the inspiration. Remember our parting words," Whenever, wherever!" Love you!