Wind (Chapter 2)

He sounded so different now; it was as if he knows everything.

TO BEGIN WITH

I’m feeling a little generous today and would like to share the second chapter of my novel in progress called “Wind.”

Hope you are having a fine weekend. Always take care.

WIND – CHAPTER TWO

We grew up together. I knew what made him smile, and he knew what makes me cry. We were like macaroni and cheese. I always thought we will forever be together. I could not remember a time in my childhood that he wasn’t around. But as all young people in small, old-fashioned towns like Subic, he left, chose for himself, to explore the world and all that it seems to offer.

Many years have passed with no news of Paulo. Until one day I received a letter from him. It was both surprising and disturbing to know that he still remembers my address and he’s assuming that I’m still in the same old place after he left. But I did not think of it that way too much.

He began telling me stories of himself, his experiences and discoveries. I would sometimes be envious of his photos taken from so many places around the country. He sounded so different now; it was as if he knows everything.

Some of his letters, all mailed from the same place in Liloan, Cebu, spoke of God. In one, he wrote about wanting to pastor a church and dedicate his life to taking care of less fortunate families in a barangay there. I wrote him back, asking him to wait a bit, urging him to experience more the freedom of his singlehood before committing himself to something so serious.

But after I re-read my letter, I tore it up. Who was I to speak about freedom and commitment? Compared to him, I felt like I knew nothing of such things.

In my life, I had been in a relationship five different times. One of them I admit I loved, while the others were just to play in bed. I was a working student during college, and I met my boyfriends in the fast food chain where I was working.

After years of exploring about love-making, I decided to stay single. They were these blah relationships where I gave no commitment and felt no commitment.

Also in his letters, I found out that Paulo became a published author, and that he already had written 15 books on self-discovery and personal change. He’d also become an inspirational speaker and had begun to give lectures and seminars. This again surprised me; I thought he was too young to be able to teach anything to anyone.

And then he wrote me, inviting me to come to Cebu, and that he was going to speak to a small group in a convention center in Cebu City and he really wanted me to be there.

So from my home in Subic, I traveled 3 hours by bus to Manila and took the 45-minute plane ride to Mactan International Airport. I’ll only be there for a day, an overnight stay, my flight schedule was early the next morning. I knew no one in Cebu, nor do expect anyone to know me, so why linger. I just wanted to see him again; I wanted to hear his voice. I want to sit with him in a café for a couple of hours and remember the old days, when all we need and want was just each other.

- Chapter 2 from “Wind”, a novel by Raymund Tamayo

Raymund's Random Insights

Well, thank God, we all got through another week without too many bruises.

The quest is not to seek out God, for He is everywhere. Rather, it is to learn more about Him. In doing so, we expand our capabilities and increase our knowledge of ourselves. Knowing God, then, is finally coming to know ourselves.

God meant none of us to live without loving and being loved.

Poem of the Week

I THANK YOU FOR YOUR GRACE

by Emon

I thank you for your grace

and your mercies, Lord,

because it keeps me moving on.

I thank you for the unbroken foot this month

and leaving me with no more bruises

            on a tired and weary heart.

Sometimes tied up in traffic

I’m grateful for the music on my radio

that takes me from the busyness of the season

and carries me back home to the silence

            and stillness and serenity

                        of You (one thing

                        I can’t live without).

It’s then I realize how blessed life is

when lived with You.

The traffic breaks.

My attention goes back

to what the moment

            and the season

                        demands.

I thank you for your everlasting grace

and mercies, Lord,

(December 2009)

AND FINALLY

Happy thoughts go your way as we enter November. Stay on the course.

Thanks for stopping by - see you next week.