"Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up."
- The Wonder Years
I came across the above quotation a few days ago. Had it not been for the mentioned source of the quote, I would have definitely discarded it as another statement... Who knew that such a statement from an old TV series could carry that much weight?
It somehow woke a sense of nostalgia in me... It made me wonder how were the people who I used to study and grow up with are doing now. Questions such as "Where are they?" or "How do they look like now?" came to the fore. Yes, social network sites such as friendster and multiply are sprouting all over the internet like mushrooms, letting a person know how his friends, classmates and acquiantances are doing... But somehow, its different when you get to see them again face to face. Add to that the news of the death of the father of one of my former classmates in college, not to mention the demise of one of my batchmates from high school made me think about my mortality and how short life is. Funny, I'm still in my early twenties and I'm already acknowledging my own mortality and already wondering what am I doing with life right now...
As you can see dear reader, I just uploaded another photo album... this time filled with pictures of good old UST. Some of the places there are still familiar while some of the landmarks that me and many of my college batchmates grew up with are no longer there... Initially, I was one of the many who thought that many of the changes are no longer needed or that there could be a better way. Sadly, the price of moving forward is to let go of some of these landmarks. Places such as the Colayco Park and the UST canteen has given way to the Millenium Park (UST people, please correct me on that) and other such changes. The UST canteen's spiritual successor is the car park building in front of the UST Hospital. When I re-visited UST last Saturday and started my little photography project, I began to realize that some of the changes really are for the better (in a sense). I wouldn't have been able to get a rather good (relatively) shot of either AB Building or the Main Building had it not been for the spanish-era styled lamp posts to add some flavor to the scenery...
Taking those pictures helped me relax from the stress and crap of the "real" world. Yes, I know that its rather odd to visit a school during the summer break when you know that you're not going to chance upon anyone familiar there but something inside me was nudging or begging me to visit the old school again and just reflect. Every shot, every photo of a building or a place in UST reminded me of a lot of pleasant and not so pleasant memories. It was also strangely surreal because while I was taking pictures, I could almost hear the voices of either my college classmates or batchmates... A part of me was half-expecting to see them walking around, chatting, minding their own businesses the second I turn towards the sounds of their voices... At one point, my nostalgia got the better of me and I somehow saw images of me and my UST batchmates... Again, more memories... of cramming for exams... quarreling over projects and petty things... the gimicks... the laughter and chatter... Those were carefree days... In a sense, those were really the wonder years...
Well, time to park my so-called pen for now... Time to face the new day and the days to come... Come to think of it, all that came from just one statement from an old TV show...
ah... kaya pala...
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