A Tribute to a Friend

It's another one of those rainy nights. As usual, I'm sitting here in Starbucks, whiling my time surfing the Internet as I wait for my cousin's arrival. I will be picking him up at the airport in about 3 hours.

But my blog tonight isn't about the rain, or the Basic Black Iced Tea I am having here in Starbucks. It is about a friend I have who will be celebrating her special day tomorrow.

No, idiot! She's not getting married yet! Tomorrow is her birthday! She'll be turning 30 something. (You're secret's safe with me, kiddo!)

I recall seeing her in school back in college. She used to sign our enrollment forms, being a trustworthy helper to the school administrators.

In 1999, I saw her again and got reacquainted as I applied for my first and only job as of yet. She works with me until now.

During our first few days as officemates, we got together quite well, with a little fights here and there. I remember our first major "fight," when I said something offensive about her (and being the naive me, I never thought it was offensive). We became friends again when I got her this cross-stitch kit of an anime character (or so I thought ... she claims that she had forgiven me even before I bought her the kit).

Through the years, we would go out and have a group outing with some of our best friends. Normally, we would schedule it around the date of my birthday. Hence, it became known as my birthday outing. During her birthdays, we would normally celebrate it in her house, until a few years back, when the parties stopped for some reason.

Through the 10 years I've worked with her, we had gone through a lot ... summer outings, trips to the North (Bataan, Baguio, etc) and to the South (Batangas, Puerto Galera, etc.), trips abroad (Australia, Singapore), badminton games every Monday night, R-rated movies with another one of my best friends, going to the mall window shopping, and so much more!

Here's to you, Marti! Thanks for all the fun times (and not-so-fun times) we've had! Happy birthday, kiddo!