The First Leaves

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To compensate for my current inability to feature ponderous articles because of the slowness of the computer I'm currently using here in Ontario, I decided to re-post some of my previous eLf ideas—stories which I find worthy of sharing over and over again with all of you. After all, these recollections may be something new for those who have learned of my blog site only recently and also for those who have short memories.

I would like to share also the fact that a cousin of Rizalina Driz (the girl I mentioned in the article below) surprised me with an e-mail, saying that she was altogether amazed and amused to stumble upon my blog site by chance and find the name of her cousin Rizalina.

Rizalina Driz was a classmate of mine in elementary whom I last saw in the late '70s, so you can imagine my surprise to "hear" something about her after more than two decades. I hope that Rizalina herself was able to read this particular entry.

Don't you find this weird—getting reconnected with old friends and acquaintances whom you've never seen or even heard of for so many years?

For me, it's like being transformed into a child once again. The memories that I got to share with these childhood friends suddenly play in my mind like a rerun set in slow motion.

I just close my eyes and smile and I'm a cute little boy once again.


Plucking Leafs from My Tree of Memories
Chapter One
The First Leaves

(Originally posted on October 31, 2004)

I was about six years old when I first had the narcissistic idea that I would be great someday—when my father told me, “Para kang si Jose Rizal, ah! mahilig magbasa at magsulat.”

At the age of five, prior to entering kindergarten in 1976, I was already fond of writing, listing different words and names of objects, persons, and places in a notebook my father gave me and of listening awestruck to his folktales and Greek-mythology stories. (Yes, at that age I could already write name-words; just ignore most of my spellings.) I used to list names of different kinds of animals, superheroes, countries, and even plate numbers and models of vehicles. (Perhaps, from this childhood hobby where my love for details and trivia originated.)

And, yeah! I would even draw the flags of different countries, the illustrations of which I would copy from the encyclopedias and books with which my father used to surprise me. (I remember always feeling challenged every time I tried drawing the flag of Saudi Arabia, which to this day remains to be the flag I’m most fascinated with.)

Speaking of Rizal, I suddenly remembered the name of my first-ever crush—Rizalina Driz, a classmate in Grade One (1977–1978), at St. Mary’s Academy in Pasay City, Metro Manila, whose distinctively round face, 'apple-cut' hair, and the prominent mole just above her right cheek I can still vividly imagine. My father used to tease me back then: “Bagay kayo ng classmate mo: Rizalina, tapos ikaw Rizal.” However, so young and virtually innocent as I was, simple smiles and silly stares sufficed what I felt for Riz.

The most enduring, earliest memory I can recall of my childhood was a typical child's naughtiness I did in 1975—Uncle Roland (Aranzamendez) who was on a vacation from California, United States, gave the children an enormous chocolate bar.

The chocolate was kept in the fridge, intended to be divided among the children after the usual for-adults-only chitchats that grace every family reunion. Impatient as I was, I sneaked into the kitchen and spirited away the huge bar of gold from the cold treasure chest and then hid under the mahjong table and started to feast on my delicious find.

I can no longer recall what exactly happened next, after they discovered that the children's treasure was missing and found me under the table, with my shirt and face full of sticky sweet brown mess.