Everything Under The Tropical Sun

So busy! But happy busy.

Neptune’s here and we’ve been having a blast catching up. She hasn’t changed one bit. Same “oplok” girl I knew in high school. Now, I’m on my way out the door to pick her up. We’ll be spending the night at my mom’s house because we’re leaving for Bohol tomorrow!!! Bright and early. The boat leaves at 8:45 AM.

Bohol is a separate island from Cebu… another city and a 2-hour boat ride away… but equally as beautiful. I’d say they have better beaches than the ones found in Mactan. Cebu’s mainly made of rock and Bohol has beautiful white sand beaches. I’ll shall say it again: I LOVE LIVING IN A TROPICAL COUNTRY! I LOVE CEBU! I LOVE THE VISAYAS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Hopefully, I’ll have internet connection so I can post. But I doubt I’ll have the time. We’ll be spending our days just lounging about… catching up on some reading and generally having a great time. I won’t be surprised if I’ll put this blog on the back burner for a while. So for now, I bid adieu my precious blog. I’ll be going on a bloggie break for the next four days. I’ll miss you… I really will.

Have a fun and great Holy Week everyone and an advance Happy Easter!

We just got back from Bantayan… but we’re leaving again in an hour to pick Neptune up at the airport! I’m so busy… even when I’m not working… I love it. I love my work, I love my downtime. What more can I ask for?

Well, the trip was a blast. Had a great time with my husband (as always). Spent most of our time laughing, eating (no surprise there) and getting a little tan. Bantayan is such a wonderful place. Though we had hoped to have had better accommodations, Beach Placid is so-so. They’re in dire need of some proper branding by the way but it seems like they don’t have too big a budget yet so maybe later on… when the island picks up more tourists. Right now, main tourist pool are Cebuanos then some white people. The good thing was I didn’t see a single Korean. Thank goodness.

I’ll be posting a more detailed account of our trip a little later… right now, I need to nap a bit before we head on out to pick Neptune up from the airport. She’ll be spending a whole week here in Cebu so I’m very excited! I just hope Ann would be able to come home too. It won’t be the same without her. Nep will be going to Bohol with my family on Thursday so that should be a blast.

Expect ONLY beach photos from me during the whole of April!

I had a very interesting chat with one of my best friends, Neptune last week… She said that her mom’s coming home to visit next year and that she’d talk to her husband about her going too. I didn’t really want to hope too much because it’s been over a decade since we last hung out with each other and I really miss her.

We weren’t always close. When we first met, we didn’t really hit it off right away. It wasn’t until that fateful summer of 1993 when practically everyone we knew left town to spend the summer in some fantastic place having the adventures of their lifetime. While Neptune and I stayed on in good ‘ol predictable Cebu. I didn’t have Neptune all to myself though, she joined a jungolf program at the local country club and as bored as I was, I took up tennis (*sigh… I miss my figure way back when) at the same country club.

We saw each other after her her first 9 holes of golf and after my tennis lessons. That was our daytime routine that summer. What did we do you ask? We just talked… and talked… and talked. She’s such a clever and witty woman even back then when we both didn’t know any better. She’s funny and there were no boring moments. EVER. Come to think of it, I can’t really remember how we were able to entertain ourselves that summer but somehow we did because to this day, I still remember that it was one of the best summers of my life.

We’d go out at night… go to this popular (and the only) dance club in Cebu. We really weren’t drinkers at the time but we loooved to dance! It didn’t matter if it was just the two of us. We danced our asses off. But we mainly kept coming back because of this guy (Nep’s crush) who was a really good dancer.

We had all kinds of stupid antics that summer too. In the usual teenage fashion, we met with random guys… prank called most of them. But didn’t really do anything drastic… mild stuff. Hee hee! Those were the days.

That summer came and went but what Nep and I took with us is a friendship that has lasted through the miles. School started, Ann came back and we were a trio again. We graduated high school, went to our separate universities. All the while, we kept in touch as often as we could (except for Ann and I – we went wild in Manila) and Neptune left. I think it was in the middle of our 2nd year in college when they (with her family) left for the States.

We haven’t seen her since. That was almost a decade ago, I think. But the great news is, I was chatting with her the other night and she’s coming home!!! Finally! She’s bringing her kid with her and I could hardly contain my excitement. She’s coming home summer of next year.

Another summer… we’re all so different now yet still the same in so many ways. Finally, another memorable summer I could add to my list. It’s been a while.

We have a long weekend coming up and my husband and I decided to fly to Manila to visit Ann and her family. It’s been a while since we last went there. November last year was the last time we were there.

This time there’s an occasion, it’s Amara’s birthday. Their youngest. For some odd reason, I ended up being the godmother for three of her kids (she has 4… a boy, a set of fraternal twins, and Amara). For a while they couldn’t remember to which twin I was the godmother to. So for years, we just considered that I was the god mother for all three. And when no. 4 (Amara) came out, they got my husband as Amara’s godfather. Just to say that they’re not playing favorites. Hahahaha!

As if there’s a difference.

Of all my boyfriends, my husband has been the only one that they both really, really liked. Though Ann has never been the type to really discourage me from going out with someone she thinks is harmful to me, it was obvious if she didn’t really approve of any of my EXs.

She’s been a great friend. Her and Neptune (who lives all the way in Florida now) are the closest women friends I have from way back. We’ve been friends since high school and have been through a lot since then. We’ve managed to stay in touch although there were times that there were HUGE gaps in terms of years when we communicated, but whenever we did manage to find each other, we’d end up talking like nothing changed.

We always told our BIG news to each other first. When they both found out they were pregnant, two of us always knew first. Neptune even told Ann and I she was pregnant before she told her husband. We’ve always considered ourselves best friends even through the distance between us.

Since it’s practically impossible for me to fly and see Neptune, being with Ann is the next best thing. She’s still an hour away by plane but at least it’s only an hour. I’ve missed her, Juno (her husband), and the kiddies so much! I can’t wait!!!

Me, Neptune, Ann (Over a decade ago.)