TWO AND A HALF WEEKS AGO an unexpected e-mail message from a long-lost friend triggered a flurry of online activities by otherwise nonchalant members of a long separated but never forgotten ìbroodî ñ The Boys and Girls of P. Campa.† It is one of those disruptive events that throw everyone affected off tangent.† All of a sudden The Boys and Girls of P. Campa are abuzz and alive, with e-mails flying in every direction.

The initiator of this disruptive event has been Claret (or Iris, depending on who is calling her).† She just recovered from an emotional bout which, all of a sudden, triggered her nostalgic trip down memory lane all the way to the cockroach- and rat-infested bed-space-only boarding houses of P. Campa St. in the middle of Manilaís university belt.

I was the recipient of that fateful first e-mail.† She found me through Google and Friendster, Claret said, which I find to be somewhat flattering and outright funny.† Flattering because it means I now somehow exist in the World Wide Web.† Yippy!† I am googleable!†† †Funny because I do have a Friendster account but I have not really accessed it since I created it several years ago.

Claret has always been the sentimental fool in the group.† Okay, I rank a far second.

Shortly after a quick exchange with Claret, I got another e-mail, this time from Malou.† Malou, who BTW now goes by the name Marlou, is my ìsister.î† You see, way back in 1992, when The Boys and Girls of P. Campa met, they declared themselves a family.† Malou and I were to be twins.† I guess because we were both good-looking, and funny, and certified mental cases.† Which leads me back to why she decided to change her moniker to ìMarlou.î† According to her, ìMarlouî is somehow shrouded in mystery because people are not quite sure if itís a boyís name or a girlís.† I suspect there is more to it than that.† You see, I used to be involved in a very complicated way with a girl named Marlou.

Claret and Malou (or Marlou) are both in England now, seven hours away across the world, as nurses of course.† Both are still single (misery loves company?), at least officially.† Maybe they are meant for each other.

A third equally unexpected e-mail soon followed.† This time it came from Trix, who is now based in New Jersey, in the U-S of A.† At first I thought Trix was mad at me because her e-mail was screaming (i.e. ALL CAPS).† She actually admitted that she was somehow jealous that Claret and I have been exchanging e-mails for about a week already before she got herself into the loop.† Turns out thereís a valid reason for her screaming e-mail.† Sheís myopic, literally that is, so she has difficulty reading small typefaces.† She actually requested me and everybody else to scream back at her.† That makes me feel a lot better.† Getting even always makes us feel better, doesnít it?

Oh BTW, Trix is married (thank goodness) and has an adolescent son.† Her parents are now with her family in the US, and hopefully soon, also the rest of her real siblings.

From Malou I got bits and pieces of information about the other girls in the brood.† Bex is married, with two kids, and is based in Toronto.† Faye is also married, with three kids, and is now in California.† Bevs/Yehyeh, our mother goose, is based in PH and appears to be married but with no kids yet.† These information are all quite sketchy but Malou promised to fill in the details when she goes ìbalikbayanî in a few weeks time.† With luck on our side she may be able to get the rest of the girls join our Google Group which I just created.

Speaking of Malouís imminent homecoming, I just remembered that she gave her little brother a very daunting assignment.† I am supposed to be in charge of gathering the boys of the brood in time for her vacation.

The prospects are grim but I have to make a decent effort. †In the last 15 or 16 years since, most of the boys of P. Campa have somehow successfully managed to disappear.

The last I heard about Bhong is that he has migrated to the US with his spouse and kid(s).

Edward, who was head-over-heels in love with Claret while we were in P. Campa (and who knows, maybe until now?), disappeared and never to be heard of again (at least by me) after our group left P. Campa and went our own separate ways.

Lino, went to work in Taiwan for some time.† He resurfaced and gave me a surprise call late last year.† His wife and kids are now in the US.† Meanwhile, he took to studying again, and graduated a Nurse!††A what?† I guess he was overly inspired by our sisters in P. Campa.† He took the NCLEX early this year.† I havenít heard from him again yet.

Ramil, my best buddy in college is also married and with kids.† He worked for Coca-Cola (Philippines) for quite some time and was based in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, before he accepted a job in Afghanistan.† I havenít heard from him since he left PH.† I often joke about his joining Bin Laden and the Talibans.† Truth is, I am worried sick about him.† What if he really joined Bin Laden and the Talibans?

That leaves Mitz and Mann, the Bert-and-Ernie tandem of our group, and Allan of course.

Mitz, Mann, and myself ñ and yes sometimes Allan, too ñ have managed to keep in touch all through those years, chiefly because we are all MLA-based.† Also, Mitz and Allan used to work for the same company.† We call each of our get-togethers a ìBlue Moonî day because, like the poetic blue moon, it happens very rarely indeed.

Allan is, of course, married to his college sweetheart, Josie.† His eyes never went astray ever since.† They live in Tarlac with their four now-grown-up kids.

Mitz discovered mountaineering some years back, and with it a wife.† He and Kaye have a 5- (or is it 6-) year old son.† He has since shifted his interest into digital photography, and is now one of the leading experts on the subject in the whole PH.† My ex-girlfriend and I attended one of the 1-day workshops Mitz conducted recently and, with Godís grace, we managed to make it until the morningís coffee break during which we made our graceful escape.† We would have nose-bled to death if we stayed a minute longer.† Mitz was sport enough to shoo us away laughing.† He promised to give us exclusive lessons.† Weíve been piling up on tissue paper in preparation.† Maybe we should stock up on blood, too.†

Unless you know him close enough you wouldnít suspect that Mitz is also bravely battling the ugly big C. †He appears to be winning.† Knowing Mitz very well I can actually say that he has already won.

Mann, oh man, is still very much The Mann.† He works for a company called MUSIC, where he seems to have found the music of his life, Vilma, with whom he now has three kids (since I last counted, at least).† While Mitz and Mann are godfathers to each otherís first born, I am a godfather to Mannís youngest, Megan.

We play golf together, Mann and I, but only on e-mail.† I got him to try blogging a few months back.† It hasnít rubbed on him enough yet but he said heíll get back to it with a vengeance some time next year.† ìGoing back to P. Campaî may just be the sort of inspiration he is waiting for.

And then thereís me.† To The Boys and Girls of P. Campa I was, and am, Russ, a nickname I use exclusively for our special brood.† While still in P. Campa I got myself into a programming job in an IBM Joint Venture company.† In 1996, while I was on assignment in Thailand, our company hired a new CFO.† Her name is Marie.† As fate would have it, Marie became my girlfriend (or I became her boyfriend) in December 1999.† But our ìgoing steadyî was short lived.† By December 2000 Marie became my ex-girlfriend.† Between the two of us weíve since managed to produce two beautiful kids, Marielle and Johan.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where the Saga of The Boys and Girls of P. Campa currently stand.† The end is nowhere near, as the current chapter is just taking shape.

Related posts:

1. Dine like a President I’VE NEVER BEEN good at remembering names of people. †I...
2. Friendly (and a bit older) faces from a not-so-distant past † THERE IS something terribly wrong with this photo....
3. Good, Better, Best “Good, better, best” used to have an entirely different...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.