May 26, 2004
foster brothers
because of this influx of free text messages, i decided to text those people in my phonebook whom i haven't seen and heard from for a long time. i thought this was rightly so, since i felt digital cobwebs forming around the names of those people in my phonebook. after i did this wonderful task, i was glad to see that out of the many people whom i texted, many replied, and three of them were my foster brothers.
(foster brothers: noun. 1. usually found residing in a single room in the male dormitory, foster brothers are upperclassmen assigned to take care of you while you are still a freshman. they help you go through the orientation process. if they are nice enough [and if you are nice enough], they might help you go through your college years. 2. you become a foster brother if you are an upperclassman. you have to deal with your own freshmen assignments. if you are nice enough [and if they are nice enough], you might help them go through their college years.)
i miss my foster brothers. even as a freshman in a new place living in a new home, i never felt threatened or unsure. they helped me go through the tough part of fitting in and adjusting to the new surroundings. when i was with their company, i felt the stresses of college life melting away with every joke uttered and with every game played. they felt so easy to be with. i guess i'm not the only one who felt this because every foster brother they have had have come to bond with them even beyond the orientation process, a phenomenon so rare not even i could imitate the same camaraderie with my younger foster brothers. it's funny, though, because i don't think they actually realize this. i think they just take this in stride, doing all these nice things without putting a thought into it. i guess it's natural for them to act this way.
like i said, i was glad to see that they replied to my text messages. i was even happier to hear that their lives have turned out all right after college. fra works as a commodities trader (i'm not sure if this is right, but it sounds right) in a budding company; clarence studies in medical school and has successfully circumcised his first patient (the anaesthesia lost its effect near the end of the operation with 2 stitches left. ouch!); justin works as a guidance teacher in a catholic school in cebu (girls would flock to him for "guidance," so he says); and jono is in canada, basking under the canadian sky (whatever that sky is, i do not know).
it's good to hear from people you care about and from whom you haven't heard for a long time. but it's infinitely better to hear that their lives have taken turns which they are proud of and happy about.
comments here