It was declared and it is now just waiting. In little over a month, what I've been waiting for for the past seven years will just be somewhere around yearning to be celebrated, yet as early as now I already am claiming and celebrating. The biggest testimony thus far is just around the corner. This wasn't just my story. This is the story of all the people I've been with, waiting with me with intense enthusiasm. This is the story of the challenges I have encountered. This is the story of my Mom's unparalleled efforts and love. The story of my entire family's victory; a potential source of inspiration for my brother and sisters. A story of persistence and unending resilience. This is His story -- His unquestionable, never conditional love oh so overwhelmingly present all through out. I started this journey with an idealistic mind, which was later on disappointed, but was encouraged again with a better definition of what is ideal.
As early as now, I look back to how it all began -- that moment when I graduated from high school. That young, naive guy who was excited to get to college, aiming to graduate early with honors and recognition. That moment when the guy, after his first semester in college, realized the need to work, and worked as early as 17 at Goldilocks. Met the humblest people and got inspired by the humbling stories of his co-workers, as well as with the experience of serving lunch and dinner to professionals and corporate people in Ayala. While doing so, he passed the qualifying exam for the Accountancy program in Far Eastern University and started dreaming of becoming a CPA. After a semester, together with his Mom, he succumbed to the challenges of poverty, and was forced to leave school. Out of eagerness to go back the soonest possible, he applied in Convergys as a call center agent. He never realized that it's gonna be an entirely new world. For two long years, he talked with foreign people on the phone, learned the foreign tongue, met people in the workplace with totally different perceptions of life. He was introduced to the darker side of the day, the warm evening lights of the streets, the sound of intoxicating music -- the night life. A total liberation of the mind that was later on realized as deceiving freedom. He met real friends along the way and he definitely enjoyed their company. He learned how to think differently, adopt to the demands of culture, and conform to different environments. These were lessons worth learning, but as he went through the process, he got hurt and insulted and questioned and belittled. His naiveness took its toll. And so he tried his best to become someone new. Oh yes, he did. Until he remembered the reason why he's there. An opportunity to go back where he started came. His Mom was able to find a way to send him back to school and so he did. He was thrilled and excited, until he went in to his first class. Financial Accounting 1. How will he ever forget. Two years he didn't see numbers and accounting principles and account titles and on his first day he was slapped with Cash and Cash Equivalents. Summer class that was, and everything was quick. His batch mates already grew up together, different to how he did, and so he wasn't able to catch up with them anymore. And to cut the tragic semester short, he failed. His first ever failure in school since birth. He cried. No, he wept. And as much as he wanted to get back up and make up with the failure, he continued the failing streak. Eventually, he was taken out of the program. This time he didn't cry, but he's devastated. And so he decided not to focus on things that can't be changed anymore. The threat of leaving school was still there, and he did for another semester. He went back to working, as a US Recruitment Specialist this time through the help of a very good friend. He started with PSG Global Solutions, and continued in 24-HRPO. Schedules didn't work out well when he went back again to school, and so he tried working part-time in Excel Asia as a local Recruitment Specialist. He was just too excited to graduate and finish what was supposed to be finished. He already saw three batches graduate, and he knew that soon he must have his own celebration. How great it is that all throughout, his academic organization, the Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants, has always been there to take care of him -- exposing him to a lot of opportunities, those he thought he already missed. Now he already stopped working completely and is just three subjects away from graduating.
I am now 48 days away from marching up that stage in PICC, wearing a gown of green and gold. And as I wait for that day, though the threats of life's irony are still there, I look back to where I started, remembering all the disappointments and the triumphs. I look back to those times when I thought I won't make it there anymore, and then look at myself now taking the last days of my college years. And as I reminisce, I say thanks to everyone who made the journey fruitful, worthy, joyful, and full of learning. To all those who waited with me, oh man, ETO NA TALAGA!!! Woooooh! :D
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