The Adventure of a Kid

The Charm of a Town Kid

Everything has a reason for our historical perspective.  And when you were young you were fearless. You didn't think of consequences. What you did was never premeditated. You jumped on teeming opportunities and grabbed chances. Nothing barred your way. At this stage in time, all things were possible.  And your confidence is unquestionably tremendous. 

You were young, restless, courageous, fearless, and rebellious. You have no plans but you only relied on His guidance from what you've picked up along the barely trodden path from Mother nature, home, and the solid-rock Catholic education of the sectarian and religious clergies. Your feet itched for adventure, for exploration as you were borne from a town but found a rural village pregnant with fascinations, bucolic beauty, and mystery; with its tailor birds, orioles, hawks, and wild pigeons. On its ricefield were a swarm of happy mayas (ricebirds), busy herons/egrets, and the slow-moving carabaos (water buffalos) wallowing in the mud devoid of chemicals. On its mountain and forest, deers gleefully played, wild pigs tirelessly roamed for food, the woodpeckers/ hornbills undisturbed on their lairs, and the wild pigeons fluttered in wild abandon while the snakes slithered unmolested.

Your junior year in high school ended at the town as your life seemed bleak and weary but your horizon was colorful when you feasted your eyes from Labason beach to the not-so-far-away Bayangan/Murcielagos island. You boarded a slow boat with your mother to the Ciudad Hermosa (Zamboanga City) where the dialect was broken Spanish called Chavacano. There you met a doctor at Zamboanga General Hospital, who offered you a place to stay and to continue your senior year as ambition was always dogging you. Sure enough, you matriculated in the last night high school at a renowned and all-boys Jesuit school, the Ateneo de Zamboanga. You were the youngest as your classmates were already family men and employed but cannot be given promotions on their jobs as they lack a high school diploma. You were the small kid but a big man when you graduated yet you only garnered the silver, not the gold award because of your lack of academic residency as a transferee.

By the way, the city added a fascinating feature in the chapter of your book and a treasure to reckon with that will pave the way to more exciting sequels. These episodes would eventually be notched in Greg's Notes and Footprints.