The Bomb that Changed my Life

The anniversary of 9-11 put me in mind of another bombing. On a smaller scale, still terrible, and one that I had a narrow escape from. And it also changed my life.

I was in training as a new teacher at Ateneo High School. So far we had been permitted to go to school in casual attire, but classes were about to start. I needed proper shoes. My feet are not easy to fit, and I remembered that the last good pair of shoes I bought I got from Makati. I decided to go there after our training session one day.

I told my best friend in the group of new hirees, a guy that I talked a lot to, had a lot in common with but was not the least attracted to. He was scrawny and bespectacled and two years younger. While the word hadn't been invented yet, I guess I friendzoned him from the first.

So I went to Makati, walked from shop to shop and bought two pairs of shoes and a few clothes. When I decided it was time to go, I went to the exit of Landmark department store and found it very crowded. I went out through a side door instead and walked around the side. As I reached Glorietta mall, I saw emergency vehicles and SWAT team members around, and realized something had happened. I hurried away.

At home, I found out that there had been a bombing at Glorietta, where I had bought one pair of my shoes just half an hour or so before transferring to Greenbelt Mall. What a near miss.

On Monday, when I returned to school, the secretary from the principal's office stopped me and told me my friend had been trying to get my phone number from them. They hadn't given it because it was against their policy. But he had wanted very badly to get in touch with me.

I was flattered at his concern, but I hoped it wasn't anything more than a friendly concern. He insisted on driving me home thereafter, and I had mixed feelings about it. I still wasn't attracted to him. It's a terrible thing to be so shallow, but what can I do, appearances mattered to me. I am all admiration now for people who can love those who are not good-looking.

In any case, the turning point came for me on the first day that he came to school dressed for work in a polo shirt and tie. He looked good. I decided I could love him. Five years later, I even married him--the best thing that ever happened to me.

To those who think my books like Woman in a Frame Woman in a Frame and Love among the Geeks, tend to be melodramatic and overly romantic, what can I say--I have lived such moments after all.