Chances

Today, I had the chance of having my chipped tooth fixed by our family dentist 🦷 as I was a chance passenger in my sister’s early morning car ride to the hospital where she clinics. With the unbearable traffic Manila is notoriously known for, it’s the only time one can freely move about and I’m not one to brave that distance to the office by myself. Thankfully, traffic wasn’t really as heavy this time. As it turns out, it wasn’t the only thing I had a chance at today. I had the chance to have a heart-to-heart talk (very normal for us) with our driver Elyboy while my sister was at the backseat listening to every thing I was saying which may not be as normal for her. I’ve never been as talkative or verbally open in the presence of my sister before. You can say we have a restricted, calculated kind of relationship. Apparently, I am more comfortable talking to our driver than to her, the driver being more accessible, ie when he’s around and my sister doesn’t really need him.

While at the dentist’s office and after my dental procedure, I had the rare chance of talking candidly and lengthily with our family dentist, the daughter of my father’s best wrestling friend in College (as I was her only patient this morning). I considered her to be a pretty lass when we were growing up she being only 4 years older than me and I always looked up to her family, her and her brother Charlie Boy (name altered). I thought they were cool kids! They grew up rich but she has personal problems mostly with her only brother presently that could literally suck up my entire life savings which isn’t much anyway. Although we’re not really close, I felt bad about this, at least with the limited news I have about her. She is after all, separated or divorced with two daughters she is solely taking care of. After today’s tete-a-tete however, I was sufficiently more informed. It was an opportunity to get to know more about her and her complicated family life which somehow makes me reflect back at my own. This rare and quite refreshing conversation left me feeling happy-sad but quite content.

I won’t divulge what conversations transpired but it was definitely a mini-bonding moment with her that even my sister (her father’s actual goddaughter) would probably envy as my sister is too busy with work and doesn’t have much time for these rare talks. Let’s just say it was an inadvertent trip down memory lane plus more and I’m just hoping that it makes her think more about me the way I do her sometimes. This way, I would have cemented another long-distance, unlikely friendship in my “roster” of ever-growing friends, for lack of a better word.

Other than this occasion, I had the chance of having 3 full cups of coffee today, one being a free upsize of a regular cup from a store voucher at my favorite mall which I purposely turned in today so I can be fully present for this special of special days. Aaah!

At SM Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf