Escolta, Makati City

April 9, 2013.
Escolta, The Peninsula Manila

A meeting at 8:30 a.m. across town is a pretty challenging one. That it falls on a National Holiday makes it even more so. And for it to be a sweltering summer day underscores this even further.

This meeting was confirmed at such short notice and I wasn't too clear about it nor how I became part of it. I just know that Mila who I meet and communicate with every so often, called up to say that we are to have a breakfast meeting with a former boss (on my part) who became a dear friend I "talk" with more often online now than face to face.

The night before, I was in search of a memento for the occasion. Then I realized that I have gifted many of my friends with trinkets I made myself, Mila included, but I haven't done so for Patti. So I took out the mother-of-pearl pendant which I have been keeping for someone I feel is the right person, and made a coated paper necklace on which to hang it. It made a pretty cool piece if I may say so myself.

Before I went to sleep, I prayed that God will preside over the next day's meeting. He always has something in each and every encounter He allows into our lives. I prayed that He will keep me vigilant, expectant, and searching.

I made it to Manila Pen 30 minutes early because I overestimated the traffic on EDSA. While waiting at the lobby, I remembered my dinner meeting with Patti at the hotel's Mi Piace years ago during one of her visits.

Soon Mila came and in a while, Patti. She was beaming in her bright blue top over a festive floral skirt. She had her customary heavy leather bag and a paper bag which later yielded two boxes of Macadamia chocolates from Hawaii for Mila and me.

I was most happy to see how well she looked. She has had a couple of medical issues and so I wasn't sure how she really was. But the physical quickly receded into the background. The same childlike spirit was there, the same warm embrace and kiss. All is well with Patti. It was as if it was way back then.

Chatting and laughing quietly, she led us to Escolta for breakfast. As all the smaller tables were already taken, we chose one end of a table for six. That the table was at one end of the restaurant and that we had it to ourselves provided just the right setting for the "reunion."

After we came back from the buffet table, we said a short prayer. Then as we ate, the catching up ensued.

Thank you for understanding that I will forgo giving a detailed account of yesterday's conversation to preserve its "specialness." I also do not have exclusive right to it. I co-own each word and gesture and reaction with Mila and Patti, and it needs the triumvirate to decide what goes public and what shouldn't. Suffice it to say that we went from work-related matters to our individual health conditions and challenges to what we're busy with at present, our plans, our insights from certain experiences, etc. The most significant I think were our accounts of the times when we caught a glimpse of God's wonder and the deeply personal moments when His presence was most palpable.

The interaction struck each one of us deeply that Patti declared we should have a longer one when she returns in January. "One and a half hours is not enough. We must have at least three hours next time."

So what's my point? What's my bottom-line with this piece?

Several really. Foremost among them is how utterly indescribably wonderful God really is. He puts people and circumstances into our lives, all for our good. He appoints the time and the place. He designs the scenario.

From some of these people and circumstances, we derive happiness, laughter, and fun. With others, we experience hurt and pain, walk away miserable, then eventually stand stronger against the challenges of life. Either way, God brings them all around and we discover  -- often on hindsight -- that, oh yes, it was the best that could have happened. When we choose to react to them according to His Word, we come closest to knowing the real meaning of what the Bible so aptly calls "joy unspeakable." But we are told that the joy we can humanly experience from our relationships in this life is but an iota of what we will, in eternity. That such is reserved for the next life is for a good reason. It is to give us something to look forward to, something to deeply yearn for and want so badly that gaining access to it will define our actions. But this life's limitations shouldn't prevent us from mining each and every encounter in our present lives. For those who seek are guaranteed to come away with an abundance beyond imagination.

Another thing that strikes me about yesterday was that the encounter transpired in a charming little restaurant called Escolta.

Escolta then. (Photo credit: E.D. Sabandal, Jr.)

Escolta was the center of the Manila of old. That was where one went for the best department stores, the best movie houses, and panciterias that served authentic Chinese food. It was a district known for its charming architecture, including the quaint bridge one uses to cross from Sta. Cruz church. Bound on one side by the then clear waters of the Pasig River, Escolta Street's pebbled surface made the so familiar rhythmic sound as horse-drawn calesas plied their passengers down to Chinatown past Savory Restaurant as some kind of gateway.

But Escolta did not escape the changes brought about by modernization. Except for the "best department stores," the landmarks mentioned are still there though now decrepit and worn-out and bereft of their old charm. The few calesas left have obviously seen better days, more so the horses pulling them. And who has not seen the horror that has happened to the Pasig river? Nevertheless, they evoke sweet memories of times past. And that will probably be the role Escolta in Manila will play for generations to come. Like the proverbial lola who now only sits quietly in her rocking chair, no longer able to tell her stories which fortunately remain etched in the minds of her apos who listened with wander each time.

What happened in Escolta in Makati City yesterday was, thank God, different from what happened to Escolta in the city of Manila. The encounter showed the sterling quality of friendship, unchanging or even deepening, over time and distance. Ties went beyond the mundane, such as work, into the more meaningful and personal. Revelations were shared from the heart, and also understood more clearly and within the proper context now. Expressions that could have raised eyebrows then came so naturally including those with references to things spiritual.

I left Makati yesterday much richer than when I first got there. I was with dear friends Mila and Patti. There were no lines of authority nor even mere hints of hierarchy. Everything was just seamless because the Presence that mattered was in our midst.

Today I honor and thank You, Lord. Friendships that stand the test of time and distance can only come from You. Joyful meetings among friends can only be because You were right there.

May we always seek Your company in all we do. Singly or together.