earl+sam

It was early last year when I got a Facebook message from a college buddy, Earl, asking me if I was coming home for the holidays because he wanted to ask me to be a part of his wedding. 


If you knew me and Earl and the kind of hate-love (yes, hate first) friendship we shared more than a decade ago, you'd be surprised, too, that he did ask me to be a part of what was to be the most important day of his life. Then again, if you also knew how our friendship "improved" through the years, you'd simply smile and sigh.


You see, Earl was the biggest bully to me and to my girlfriends in college. Before I went to college and met, I never thought college bullies existed. One would think a bully was this kid of a jerk of in grade school who made lives of the lowly, geeky ones miserable. Earl gave a new definition and perspective to the word. He was both that bully and jerk in college.


He belonged to what we, back then, labeled as the "haughty group" from Sacred Heart (referring to the high school they graduated from, which, by the way, is this exclusive all-boys school in Cebu City). The group was composed of guys who came from that school and were such "feelers", acting as if they were invincible and too smart for the course. I actually remember a teacher "hating" them! Ha!


I think I dwelt too much on the "hate" aspect of our friendship. There was more good to it really, in the long haul.


Eventually getting over the many pranks and haughtiness Earl and the other guys "showered" us with, we all ended up sharing a wonderful friendship throughout our college years. We went out to dinners and parties, traveled together and simply shared the joys of the college life. Even after graduating from college, going separate ways, we continued to keep in touch. I, most specially, kept in touch with Earl and the other guys - yes, the haughty bunch. 




Earl back then was dating this beautiful girl from a different college. They were high school sweethearts. They were together over a decade (after college, they both went on to take up Law) when they finally broke up. Earl was devastated. As big a bully as he was in college, I never saw him so shaken up as he was that night we went out to dinner to tell me about the sad news. He was pouring his heart out to me and I couldn't help but feel no matter how bad he was, he didn't deserve to go through that breakup (and all the ugliness of betrayal, more so). And oh, imagine sharing over a decade of your life with someone you thought you were growing old with already and just as suddenly he/she disappears from your life forever (and worse, ending up pregnant with another's child - talk about adding insult to injury).


Earl, however, moved on, although not as soon as I thought he would - considering his "history" (a bully+jerk could mean many other things, too, you know - ha ha!).  We had dinner several months later (and yes, which means the old flame already gave birth to a boy - heartwrenching, I know!) and he told me he met Samantha, a pretty and petite lady, who, as he described, was just amazing. Earl's eyes just lit up and I couldn't contain my happiness! Good things do happen to good people. In God's perfect time, they do.


About three years later, they marry. 


It was an honor to be a part of their simple but beautiful wedding. More so, it was meaningful to be a part of a guy friend's wedding. It was something new because I've never been part of a guy friend's wedding. Usually, I'd end up bawling as I watched a friend walk down the aisle to marry the man of her dreams. This time around, I nearly cried watching Earl, my friend (former nemesis, ha ha), waiting for the woman of his dreams walk down the aisle.


Here's to a happy beginning, Earl & Sam! Cheers!


***
The wedding was a happy college reunion of sorts. Although we weren't even half the number of friends from the group during the wedding, it was fun to catch up with them, especially that we mostly came in pairs, save for my best friend, Mylene, who came stag (boyfriend was in Europe). 


College was such a blast for me! Earl's wedding and the fun company reminded me why.