Girl's Weekend Out

Best friend Remy was in town for a long weekend in March, in time for St. Paddy's Day. Whilst most everyone were veering away from New York's winter, she decided to trade forever Florida's eternal summer for some nippy weather of Manhattan...and the boys.

She touched down in La Guardia at 1235PM Thursday and I was still in the thick of paper shuffling and pencil pushing at the office. I found assurance in my boss' advise to take the Midtown Tunnel for a guaranteed 15 minute cab ride to the airport. Remy emailed me her fight details and it included the ETA time at 1:10PM. Her pilot must have been speeding.

Thursday night was St. Paddy's night and so we went off bar hopping in the Upper East Side to enjoy some green beer and to get into the crowd. In no time at all we were socializing with the crowd. We were almost headed to the door when a group of NY detectives based in Poughkeepsie introduced themselves to us and reeled us into conversation. Remy had a lot of fun but, well, I promised that what happened here, stays here (hehehehe).

I had brought her to my office to mingle with the group during our regular wind-down on late Friday afternoon's wine and cheese. She met the crazy bunch of guys I work with who make work a lot more fun with their sweetness and antics. She also met the two ladies I work with who are also Pinays. She understood now what I meant when I told her sometimes you meet other Pinays who are not in the friendship just to reap benefits from it. Renee and Wally are friends I have who fortunately for me, I also happen to work with.

With Wally in tow (Renee had other plans), the three of us went on a girl's night out starting with Italian dinner at Time's Square. We then trodded back to my studio for some rest and then took a cab to New York's famous 'Crobar'. We were like energiner bunnies til 2:30 AM - dancing long as they were playing music and paused only when the DJ was segueing to another number. We were also approached by some of the club denizens but we weren't intent on really doing a repeat of our St. Paddy's adventure. We decided to just stick with our moves and just feel the music.

Remy and I have been friends for more than 10 years now. We shared the responsibility of providing admin support for the Executive Suite of our offices in Manila, working with the three top managers of the company. Our friendship has survived many milestones in our lives.

In 1998 she migrated to the US and settled down in Florida and is still blissfully single to-date. In 2002, I got my job in NY and have settled here, too. We have this unwritten pact to see each other at least once a year - either in Florida, here in NY or in Ohio, at Judith's.

In the years between us, we both have changed. I noticed that we were no longer the same girls who used to create havoc at the staffhouse in Iligan whenever we came to visit though we could still manage to stir trouble even when we didn't try. Still, the two girls of ten years ago are no longer us.

Long after she has left, I ask myself where those giggly girls had gone to. Two friends who took different forks on the road of life, so different now but still so much alike. Life is funny, like what Vanj says. I can't help but wish I could peek into 20 years forward and see where we would be in our friendship.

Somehow what Remy and I have could be what soul mates are all about. A unique kind of kinship that remains no matter how far apart you are set apart, no matter how different the paths in life you take. We become molded by our individual worlds and the people around us but friendship, the genuine kind, remains the only constant, unrelenting.

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