MANILA, Philippines — It all started with a text message from Cristabeth, my high school classmate at St. Paul Academy in Goa, Camarines Sur, late last year: “Hi, there will be a reunion on Easter Sunday.”

I did not respond. I was about to undergo an operation, and a high school reunion was the least of my concerns. I was not even sure if I would have fully recovered by Easter Sunday.

Fast forward to January 2011. Maybe it was knowing that I was still alive to enjoy second chances, or the excitement of seeing old classmates after 20 years that prompted me to agree to be one of the organizers of our high school reunion, along with Cristabeth, Annalyn, and Isabel.

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Isabel was able to track down most of our classmates via Facebook, with the exception of a few who refused to be connected through cyberspace, including me! Everyone was excited.
After all, most of us had not seen each other since graduation day. A few of us have kept in touch through the years but others have totally gone out of the loop. But through all these, we started to rediscover one another - friends since we were young but altered by life’s experiences in the last 20 years.

Modern technology also afforded us to ‘’meet’’ through e-mail, text, and phone calls. If we had to consult everyone, Annalyn, Cristabeth, or Isabel posted it on Facebook. We divided the tasks among us four, or we asked for volunteers to help us with some matters. Sometimes the replies would come in slow, but many of our classmates were very appreciative of our efforts, offering suggestions and comments, tagging good, old photos, and writing a line or two. A classmate even posted that “They were lucky all of us (organizers) are still single because they could depend on us to organize the reunion for them.”

Countdown

New Zealand-based Henry commented that he could feel the excitement building up by just looking at the Facebook exchanges and postings. Many from abroad, even those who were not coming, offered to donate so other classmates could attend. Geovani and Ofie, classmates married to each other, promised to give batch t-shirts and tarpaulins for the announcement. Isabel came up with the idea to make a batch logo. Contributions poured in, with initial donations coming from abroad. St. Paul Academy Batch 1991 was indeed on a roll!

To generate excitement, we started a countdown. Everyday, Cristabeth and Isabel would post a trivia with pictures so classmates could recall memories from our high school years. We had a good laugh looking at the pictures, making fun of our fashion, our hairstyles, how naïve we looked… it was really a trip down memory lane.

Changes

There is something extraordinary about meeting one’s classmates after 20 years. You wonder how they have changed and in what ways they have remained the same.

After seeing most of them last Easter Sunday, I got the answer – nothing has really changed.

Sure, our waistlines had expanded, some hairlines receded. But more importantly, their characters remain the same.

Isabel, Kathleen, Iris, Elvira, and Melissa are as reserved as ever. Marietta, Olive, and Dennis are still shy as they used to be. Annalyn’s memory is as sharp as when we were in high school. Allan, Anthony, Christopher, Emerson, Geovani, and Joselito are the same old cheerful guys. Aldwin is still handsome as he was 20 years ago, and Rommel and Donald are still strongly opinionated. Edmundo is still lanky at 36. Richard is still quiet even as he arrived with his wife, our Filipino teacher Ma’am Cora and their five kids. Marpe who came home from Italy with her family, is as gregarious as ever. Cristabeth, Jun-Jun, and Gerald still exude confidence and success, just like old times.

I felt that I still knew them and that they still know me. I was comfortable in their company as I was back in our school days. I just wish that all of us could have attended the reunion. It would have been twice the fun and laughter.

Do I hear it right that there will be another reunion in the works five years from now?

(The writer is the managing editor of Manila Bulletin’s Animal Scene magazine)