TO THE MOON AND BACK: An Anecdote of You

To that one flickering star whose brilliance once illuminated brightly --- intertwining with mine, this is the story of our almost-universe.

I am not among those people who stare at the moon romantically or those poets who fascinate writing poems or stories about the moon and write about it in the most romantic way their ink could ever express. But not until that one night, I was swept away forever.

"Nice kaayo ang buwan karun noh? Tara, adto ta!" ("The moon is looking so beautiful tonight, isn't it? Come, let's go there!")

That night --- that one enchanting night has kept on squeezing through my memory. I could vividly remember every word and that wonderful feeling (which I discreetly celebrated). And then I stole a glimpse of you. You were staring directly at the moon that you did not notice the sheer happiness that was on my smile. I saw you painted a subtle smile on your pretty face, too.

Did I hear it right?

Were you meaning what you just said?

And hey, is that smile for real because you're happy being with me too?

There was no doubt, the moon was at its brightest that night and was fantastically dazzling towards the evening. But it was not its inconceivable mystery scattered in that moonlit night but it's the scent of you, that haunts me forever.

So many questions were tangled in my thought bubble when you suddenly threw your gaze at me...and then our eyes met. Everything was magical. Everything was in slow motion just like in a movie. That night, there was only you and me (which has gotten me questioning 'til now - where the heck did they go?) Our galaxies collided - having our stars intertwined. I was speechless for a moment and when I finally got the nerve to speak, the only words I uttered were "Mao jud!" (Yes, indeed!)

We both smiled at each other then. It seemed like our hearts were both dancing gracefully in a one romantic tune.

And then there was a deafening silence...

I could hear the unstoppable pounding in my chest which could not fathom the indescribable happiness inside my heart. It was a loud resonation of memoirs that kept on humming, long after the music has stopped.

It was like the most romantic scene plucked out from a classic love story in movies or romance novels I never knew existed. Fairies were flying around and all that I saw was you. I may not be Cinderella or Snow White who got their own Prince Charming or saved by their Knight in shining armor in an enchanting world of Fairy Tales but having you around --- nahhhh is far more than any magic Disney can offer.

I was not Jasmine with her Aladdin on a magic carpet ride but on that night, I was already flying.

If only I had stopped the clock and frozen that moment for eternity... (Sigh)

It was an ordinary Friday afternoon, after school, November 18, 2005, when I met you. I was still in my school uniform when I went to the small sari-sari store to buy something in the small neighborhood where we [luckily] both belong. It was not the first time I laid my eyes on you during that college school year, we even had an exchange of friendly stranger's hi's and hello's on a random daily encounter, but it was the day that you finally asked for my name. And boy!!! You had the sweetest smile. How could I ever forget!

Those overnight exchanges of chats over SMS texts (on how we talked about life and anything under the sun), stealing glances in the campus hallways, and exchange of sweet smiles every time our paths crossed in that narrow alley were all fragments of stories too beautiful to be left untold.

Funny how from out of the blue, you told me what your favorite song was. Is it still your favorite up to now?

Would you have laughed at me if I've told you that I thought the lyrics were meant for me?

Or would have I known the answer if only I had told you? (Sigh!)

Those were a blissful glimpse that we were on the brink of something amazing.

It was a beautiful painting.

_{Painted in acrylic in canvas - is our story.}

This is not just 12"x14" acrylic in a canvas - this our story. I write the details in painting - a spectrum of all the colorful and beautiful things you were to me. Yes, I painted it. Of how I will always remember and cherish that one spectacular moment - a snip of something beautiful that glows even in the darkness of the night.

But in between hello and goodbye, there was a grasp of hopeless words I was badly meaning to tell you, of how you were of great relevance to my existence; words that were all crippled in fear and shyness. It was a beautiful poem left unwritten, heart-felt chunks of words left unsaid, and a piece of my heart - unwrapped yet unopened. I must say it was a burning emptiness that has ignited a forest fire, yet slowly burnt that you haven't even smelt the smoke. It was a pathetic sigh, too soft to be heard. But still, it was beautiful.

Yes, I painted it. This is the color of the unspoken love I used to walk with you every day. The dramatic rhymes in a poem I never got the chance to write. The letter, enveloped in doubt, I never got the chance to send. The voices in my heart that you never got the chance to hear. This is the chapter I will always love to gaze at. In every detail, hue, and shade, this is our beautiful story - not bottled up in what if's and could have been's, but rather, a celebration of the joy of our spectacular encounter, no matter how vast our universe is, your star once brightens up my dark night. And this was us - a masterpiece of our dazzling "almost-universe".

I guess it was fate.

For us to be sailing in the wide ocean and cross paths with each other's ship but never got the chance to have it sailed together. There were waves of unavoidable circumstances enormously crashing through our shores not allowing our ships to be each other's seventh sea. Maybe the steering wheels of our fates were meant to set our sails navigating en route to parallel oceans. But that sail was still beautiful.

It was a bittersweet memory. If all encounters were by chance, then I would have thanked my lucky star that night, even though after that, I saw our stars come crashing into pieces - creating stardust of sparkling memories I can always blissfully recall.

A gray-colored missed connection; and yet a finely detailed stroke of my beautiful anecdote of you.

I never wished for our stars to be rewritten nor to meet you in another life. I was happy with how amazing our stars collided in this lifetime and how slowly they departed and vanished into the vastness, right before my very eyes. And yes I guess, it was fate; that time was never meant for us and I would never have it any other way.

We may not be as previlige before as we are right now in taking instant pictures thru our mobile phone camera, but I guess that's the beauty in it, because I got it clearly captured in my memory. And painted it eventually to speak about it or rather tell a story on how amazing it has made me feel. To my favorite-almost whose brilliance once illuminated brightly --- parallel with mine, this story may never ever reach you, but with every drop of that beautiful ink and colors, God knows how I've poured my heart out in painting and writing this for you. And I genuinely wish you happiness.

Keeping this love in a painting - until (if so ever) our stars meet again.