Confidence(s) Over Coffee

Dear readers, to save myself the further labor of typing unnecessarily, please refer to my last article. The first 3 parahgraphs there hold true for this one. Just replace "Maybeline..." with the name Xanadu and that's about it. Thank you.

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Nov 2006

Dear Xanadu,

The last time I went out for coffee with somebody who is not a relative, family member or one of my I.C. (innermost circle of friends)...I can no longer remember...it was so long ago.

The fact that I invited you out, well, it is actually a compliment of the higher order. In all my adult life, I have only invited friends who are kindhearted, INTERESTING, intelligent, among other attributes. At least those 3 are the minimum requirements, and you without a doubt, possess all those...and more.

I am - in more ways than one - a loner ("Self contained" is the term used by my closest friends)...and the fact that you made me, well, the fact that I invited you out for coffee is a tribute to your (interesting) personality and charm. I am not saying this to flatter you, it is simply the truth, nothing else.

Looking back at that 45-minute (1 hour?) coffee chat, I wondered at myself. I disclosed very personal things to a person I have just known for what? Less than a year? That simply means I already consider you as a good friend but what is more important to me, you also disclosed confidences...and that makes you a "more than good" friend. I just hope that our friendship would go stronger as time goes by.

Very rarely do I go out of my "self-contained force field" (another term used by some friends)...but for a bit of time...I did when we chatted while drinking caffeine. It was a leap of faith, in a way. But it gave me the self-fulfillment of reaching out to another human being, to a friend, it gave me the chance to "bond"...as popular parlance puts it. I have almost forgotten how it feels like, how it is like, to spend time with a friend...talking about things beyond the weather and all that small-talk stuff. Since the double-tragedy last year (which you know), I have very, very rarely gone out (on a social note) with people outside the family or my IC friends...consciously or unconsciously, I don't know. Thank you for making me remember...and for making me realize that I am still capable of it. "It" being: "bonding" with somebody, concretized by personal revelations.

Well, you said you had a good time too...I sure hope you meant it. You did right? Next time, let us make it a longer chat...a time when you don't have to rush to another commitment, and a time when I've had more sleep (more than 4 hours I mean). That was the very first time we went out, I pray and hope that it would not be the last. It is my most fervent wish that it would just be the first of many "chat-coffee-or-dinner-out" occasions.

OK...I guess that's about it...this is long enough. (But not the longest I've made for a person, not by a long shot). I'll catch you soon, I'll talk to you soon. Oh, I forgot to say, we have a lot (many) common friends and acquaintance right? I trust you to treat this (public) letter in secrecy. Meaning to say, even if they think it is for you...just deny it ok? I trust that you will do it, because I know that you value and respect my wishes for privacy. From my end, you can trust me too...and I know you do. (After all, this is not an ordinary letter, if you get my meaning.)

Take care Xanadu...Vaya con Dios. Don't let work stress you out so much...and oh...don't ever forget: patience. Have patience...in terms of all those things you told me. GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT, is just another way of saying: GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WITH PATIENCE IN THEIR HEARTS.

Keep cool. Smile...your smile is...is...is...positively radiant.

Next time we have coffee, let's do it in another place, just an idea.

A Deep Friend Here,

OWENF

XS. Ah-hurm...ahem...do you need a hankerchief? for your bleeding nose I mean...haha...I know you get my drift.