Chris & Edsel
This page is provided to satisfy the curiosity of those of you who are interested about the story of our lives together.
Although we were both born in the Philippines, and we both lived a few years of our lives in the Metro Manila area, our paths were not destined to cross until years later. In fact, right before Chris and her family immigrated to Canada in August of 1992, I was on vacation in Manila.
Chris and I met in early September of 1992. School had already started
for her. I had two more weeks before I had to return to Michigan to
start classes. I decided to visit the high school I used to attend.
They had the annual corn-boil that day and I decided to drop by to see
some old friends, speak with former teachers, and of course have some food.
Food somehow has a way of attracting me.
While I was chatting with a cousin and a few friends in the school yeard, I saw a beautifull young lady walk out of building. Such exquisite beauty! In her simplicity I saw a beauty I could not describe. My first reaction was to ask, "who's that?" My cousin replied with "She's new here, her name is Chris, I heard she's really really smart!" I somehow managed to get us introduced to each other. After a few minutes of small talk, she went on her way. And thus ends the story of how we met.
Nothing else happened after that. Her being several years younger than I,
and I having just come out of a painful relationship, I didn't think it
wise to make anything else out of our acquaintance. Although, in my heart
I felt very much attracted to her. I guess I did a pretty good job of
hiding my feelings then.
I didn't see her very much after that. I remember seeing her at her home when the rondalla group I was a member of went to her place to play some Christmas carols. I remember speaking to her several times at a few of her school's functions like choir concerts and graduations where she was the pianist. I remember being overwhelmingly impressed and mesmerized by the music produced by her supple fingers playing over those ivory keys.
I believe it was in the summer of 1995, she had already graduated from
high school, I remember going to a Pathfinder camporee. We spoke breifly
about careers, studies, and caught up with each others lives. I remember
she told me she was interested in going into Computer Science. I being
a Computer Science graduate encouraged her to go for it. She asked me if
she could call me occasionally for help in her classes in case she needed
it. In my mind I was ecstatic! In that I saw opportunities for us to get
to know each other and probably pursue a relationship. From way back then
I was already interested in her, but circumstances prevented anything from
happening.
In February of 1996, I went to California to attend my cousin, Aileen's wedding. What I didn't know then was that Chris was a very close friend of Ron, Aileen's fiancee. Our paths crossed again at the wedding. What was really weird about it was that we were sitting at the same table but neither of us could recall that. In fact we argued about that fact for the longest time. We both believed that we were sitting at different tables, yet we both claimed to be sitting beside the same group of people.
In March of 1997, two of my uncles from the Philippines were visiting us here in Canada. They were invited to have dinner at Chris' home. Upon returning, one of them made this comment: "I saw a beautiful girl!" They then proceeded to insinuate that I should pursue a relationship with her. I dismissed that as an impossibility.
What I didn't expect happened in the spring and summer of that same year. Chris started calling me for help in her Computer Science classes. Who am I to ignore a beautiful, young, intelligent girl? I was so eager to help her out! I got really excited with the possibility of getting to know her. Our conversations started as purely academic. But later as we became more comfortable with each other, our conversations started to drift towards more personal topics.
We got to know each other really well over the summer. We saw each other everyday. As we got more and more comfortable with each other, it became evident that a relationship was inevitable. And now we're here. We're both very happy in our relationship.
The pictures in this page were taken in December of 1997. This was the year we spent our first Christmas together.
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Last updated on January 2, 1998
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