fireflies
when you first meet someone and the conversation starts as though it was in the middle of the said conversation, you know it’s a potentially karmic encounter.
we all have our share of these memorable trysts – in a party, in the mall, on the net, or in some strange mindanao city while you’re on vacation alone. i remember talking with a guy for the first time by the beach when the night was young, only retiring when the moon was 180 degrees from when we started talking. i had this enormous feeling, like it was the beginning of something extraordinary.
not all of these serendipitous meetings would end up as enormous as when it started.
one time, i asked a guy in the bus for the time. we ended up talking all the way to our destination. the fact that he was pleasant to stare at for hours was a big bonus. never saw him again. i don’t even remember his name.
something similar happened some years after that, but this time, we both took a chance and did meet up on a whim. next thing i knew, i had an impromptu invitation for breakfast at 4am (he had to wake me up by incessantly ringing my cell), coffee one late afternoon, and a movie another evening. then, we just drifted away. had we said a proper goodbye, it would have been depressing, i suppose.
it doesn’t always have to come from chance encounters. the most pleasant surprises usually come from someone you know for a while but haven’t actually talked to. however, there is one element to this that makes it even more special - that feeling that you’re drawn to that person from the beginning but never really paid attention to it. take this friend for instance: the first time we had a conversation, it was a formal one. the first real conversation we had was on a boring night five years later. i guess it was just the natural thing to do when you both know each other and were put together in the same 10-meter radius. we were still talking some nine hours later. this, in fact, started an amazing friendship.
one night not long after, he and i took a walk around the village. we had a discussion that became too somber that i broke down in tears. he took me in his arms in an attempt to calm me down. then, he turned my attention to a firefly. we both fell silent. i watched as it floated aimlessly in the field. i was amazed that it has been years since i recall watching a firefly. moments later, i grew impatient. i was actually waiting for him to tell me something profound, because that’s what i thought this thing was about, but - no. it really was his way of diverting my attention so i’d stop crying. it worked.
then, the firefly just faded.
i was just pleased it was there when i needed it.
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