On January 9, 2002, Jami and Dielle took their first step together in a beautiful direction. Ten years later they take us back to where it all began – a little bench along a garden pathway at the Ateneo de Manila University. What a magnificent love these two souls share, their light and beauty radiating from within. Congratulations Jami and Dielle, and thank you for an entrancingly sweet and nostalgic afternoon.
Let us begin this letter, this prelude to an encounter, formally, as a declaration, in the old-fashioned way: I love you. You do not know me (although you have seen me, smiled at me). I know you (although not so well as I would like. I want to be there when your eyes flutter open in the morning, and you see me, and you smile. Surely this would be paradise enough?). So I do declare myself to you now, with pen set to paper. I declare it again: I love you.
Neil Gaiman
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
e.e. cummings
I love you also means I love you more than anyone loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that no one loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that I love no one else, and never have loved anyone else, and never will love anyone else.
Jonathan Safran Foer
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Rumi
No, there’s nothing half so sweet in life
As love’s young dream.
Thomas Moore
Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.
Leo Buscaglia
True love stories never have endings.
Richard Bach
Noise by Paolo Toledo
We’ve heard it all before. Our lives and the paths we take have given us this medley of life lessons that we play back, re-record, fast forward, rewind, and loop as we see fit. Sometimes we even just want to pick up the needle and let it notoriously land on a random groove, wishing for the best. Sometimes, we just keep it on the best parts. And those other times, well, we just want to drag it towards the end of every song, awaiting the next.
Each new experience – every relationship – is a remix of all the noise that came before. Sampled and composed. Familiar and unfamiliar.
Michelle made an impact in my life because she was none of the above. She was an anomaly: a freshly pressed record. All new, all original, and definitely, limited edition.
The music was fresh, and yes, hot. The noise was overwhelming.
Those who see us, who know us, and especially those close to us are all too privy to this noise.
From our first meeting at a bar, to all the gigs and parties, all those events and concerts, from the mainstream, the underground, every scene, every genre, every mall, every children’s party and playground, and down to the everyday grind of squeezing in fights and petty arguments into the schedule of errands – it was an illustrious amount of noise for all to bear witness to. It was noise we all enjoyed.
Michelle was a freshly pressed record. All new, all original, and definitely, limited edition.
But it was all nothing to me, to us. None of it mattered. Because our foundation was not built on noise.
Our love grew in silence.
Those quiet moments away and unseen from all of you. Away from the uploads and updates. Far, far, away from all the hearsay and face value. Hidden from the flashing lights, hazy rooms, and blaring music. Kept safe from lip service. It did not happen for the sake of your entertainment.
It was a bond that was built on a hidden peace. A love that happened in the silent seconds in between every discussion. It was there within the quiet car rides from one city to the next. It saw itself in the quick glances we shot each other amidst the cigarette smoke. It was awake when we slept peacefully beside each other. And it held us as we co-existed individually, doing our own thing, while remaining in close proximity to each other.
Our love grew in silence.
It was celebrated during Sundays, when the world was shut up and the mornings went way long into the afternoon. It was built on paper, and not on picture – on the notes and emails and short messages we left each other, as well as in the bills we furiously calculated. It was in the laughter and silent smiles that were tucked away between every moment, of every day. That’s where we found it: in the quietest of songs.
It was celebrated during Sundays, when the world was shut up and the mornings went way long into the afternoon. That’s where we found it: in the quietest of songs.
You know that ringing in your ears that seems to remain after you’ve stepped out and left a noisy room? That was our love, screaming and wailing to be recognized.
We’ve learned to listen. And we loved…in silence.
It was awake when we slept peacefully beside each other. And it held us as we co-existed individually, doing our own thing, while remaining in close proximity to each other.
Oh, and as for Psyche? She made her own music. You never heard anything like it because it was not played for you. She sung it to us, and sometimes just for me. It was “me and her”, separated from “me and Mommy”. And we worked on our own love quietly. Without anyone knowing it. And for now, I’ll keep it that way and save that story for bedtime.
The reduction of the universe to a single being, the expansion of a single being even to God; this is love.
Victor Hugo
Love ever gives. Forgives, outlives. And ever stands with open hands. And while it lives, it gives. For this is love’s prerogatives – to give, and give, and give.
John Oxenham
We love in another’s soul whatever of ourselves we can deposit in it; the greater the deposit, the greater the love.
Irving Layton
Tell me how many beads there are In a silver chain Of evening rain, Unravelled from the tumbling main, And threading the eye of a yellow star: So many times do I love again.
Thomas Lovell Beddoes
Thank you Paolo and Irish for all the love and faith. You two hold a very warm, snuggly place in my heart. Miss Salandanan – Barbie girl, Disney baby, Fairy Tale Princess, and now Mrs. Almeida, thank you for all the madness – I rather enjoyed it! Next up: BABIES!
‘Tis said of love that it sometimes goes, sometimes flies; runs with one, walks gravely with another; turns a third into ice, and sets a fourth in a flame: it wounds one, another it kills: like lightning it begins and ends in the same moment: it makes that fort yield at night which it besieged but in the morning; for there is no force able to resist it.
Miguel De Cervantes
(You can see and read more of Ruth and Anthony’s beautiful love story here. ♥)
Love is the only bow of life’s dark cloud. It is the Morning and Evening Star. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb. It is the Mother of Art, inspirer of poet, patriot, and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart, builder of every home, kinder of every fire on every hearth, it was the first dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy, and makes right royal kings of common clay.
Robert Green Ingersoll
(You can see and read more of Ruth and Anthony’s beautiful love story here. ♥)
That is the true season of love; when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved as much before, and that no one will ever love in the same way again.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
(You can see and read more of Ruth and Anthony’s beautiful love story here. ♥)
Thank you Ruth and Anthony for a lesson in life and love. You can see and read more of Ruth and Anthony’s beautiful love story here. ♥
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
“The Prophet,” Kahlil Gibran
Callanta – Toledo Prenuptials Bridesmaids Session
Michelle
They say when it comes to a brood of four, the second child was the middle child.
Now I don’t know why exactly but people always seem to make it sound like it’s a curse to be in the middle. Like there’s an actual syndrome you can acquire because of it. And there are symptoms too like lack of belonging, low self-esteem, reclusion, no sense of direction, and trust issues to name a few, that just make the whole thing sound even more like a personality disorder.
When I was born, my father told me that my 2-year old sister Paula went around the hospital telling everyone, “Our. Baby. Is. PRETTY!!!”
She got that part right.
My sisters are my best friends. Truly.
Then two years later, Mika followed. And two years after her, Roni.
It was only after their fourth failed attempt at a son that my parents realized my mother’s mutant ability to only produce X-chromosomes. But it was too late.
I was stuck right smack in the middle of hand-me-down dresses and a good many “Michelle, give that toy to your little sister” or “Michelle, you’re not cool enough to hang out with me and my friends” or “Pakachak, stop playing with boys and breaking your slippers.”
But that was as far as the torment as I had gotten being the middle child.
When they say middle children are ignored, I took it as freedom from parental strangulation. When they say middle children are reclusive, I saw it as an opportunity to grow on my own terms. When they say middle children have trust issues, I prided myself in the fact that when push came to shove and my parents and siblings were ready to kill each other, I, the cool calm independent nonchalant seemingly under-appreciated but completely sensible one, was the “crazy glue” that kept the family together.
True story.
To say she’s crazy must be the understatement of all time. Without her, the three of us would be lost.
Paula
This mugg! Michelle gave the two girls a balanced childhood while I was busy being an anti-social biotch. She had this awesome ability to come up with games that the two girls would enjoy, not to mention a natural inclination to fool the two into doing things that would make them look dumb, all in the name of good, clean fun. Without Michelle, the three of us would be bored, it’s as simple as that. Whenever she comes home from Los Baños, all you can hear from our house is laughter. To say she’s crazy must be the understatement of all time. Without her, the three of us would be lost.
Thank you for making me feel better whenever I’m having a nervous breakdown. I don’t know what I’d do without you Michelle. We weren’t close before, but now that we are, you are my bestest friend, the only person I run to whenever I’m in the brink of insanity. Thank you for keeping me sane Michelle. I love you.
Mika
Our pakachak! I was actually having a hard time as to what to say about this girl, aside from the fact that she’s pretty, smart and super PR. If you guys need someone to show you what fun means, she’s your girl. She has friends almost everywhere. Cool thing about that is, she lets us hang out with her now! She used to be me and Roni’s coolest playmate… ”junkies”…haha… that was cool. Oh and Roni being the escape artist by the use of scarves. She had that scary ride for us too, which I might add was totally crappy but seemed really interesting. For Christmas, Michelle always got to be Mrs. Claus while Roni and I were her reindeer – yeah, she had that power over us, (and she still does while I will forever be the Gentle Giant of the family…) And how can we forget Roni’s 3 letter-named husbands. On the other hand, we had our traumatizing days with her, but come to think of it, it was crazy fun playing with her, and believe me, when you’re with her, it’ll always be fun. Thanks to Ate Paula she became my roommate (no need for further elaboration). She’s my closest sister and I’ve always wanted to be like her (truth dude). She’s smart and witty, and still seemed to have time for other stuff. She’s gonna have the autistic child, I’m gonna marry a DOM and be a battered wife, Roni will have bratty kids (must’ve got it from the mom), Ate Paula’s gonna be obese.. yeah different alright, pero magsa-side line ka pang porn star right, haha!
All I can say is, I love being with her. I can talk to her about anything and I just love hearing what she has to say.
You know what Ate Mich, I’m having such a hard time putting into words how great you are. I’m totally lost, you know I love you right? Take good care of yourself… and we miss you like crazy…=) LOVE YOU!!!!!
Roni
“As wind to a fan, she gives things purpose. As fan to wind, she makes things move.”
My sisters are my best friends.
Truly.
* Michelle as a kid was nicknamed Pakachak by her sisters for always breaking her tsinelas from playing.
Do you believe in magic? Yeah, believe in the magic of a young girl’s soul. Believe in the magic of rock and roll. Believe in the magic that can set you free.
The Lovin’ Spoonful
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