My roommate Gay informed me that she has a boyfriend again. The lucky guy is her high school classmate who has been sweet on her since back when her dad strictly enforced the ‘no boyfriend while you’re still in school’ rule. While I have faith in childhood (or high school) sweethearts because I think their feelings have stood the test of time and should be expected to last well over the years, I should still have apprehensions about Gay’s relationship because of one other major factor – the fact that Michael is in South Korea, physically hundreds of miles away from her. Long distance relationships…don’t they not work?
Gay had her first boyfriend right after graduation (she was an obedient daughter who followed her parents’ rule, unlike the author). Barely a couple of months later, she had to review in Manila for a year, then she went home for another couple of months before moving to Makati to work. All this time her first boyfriend stayed back in their hometown in Ipil (that’s in Zamboanga Sibugay, at the other end of the Philippine archipelago). So in their four-year relationship, they were physically together for just around four months. In time, the gap finally took its toll and they had to break up. Seven months later, as if she had not been stung by a long distance relationship already, she jumped into one again…with a guy who is farther away! T.T
While some people don’t get it (“some people” being our friend Roni, who is cynical about long distance relationships since hers didn’t work out), I actually expected this to happen to Gay. Why? Because long distance romance is in her genes. Let me explain.
First, there’s her dad and her mom. Her dad is a soldier (which explains why Gay is obedient, who would dare cross a guy with a gun?), and from the beginning of his relationship with Gay’s mom, he has had to be assigned all over the country, so most of the time they were apart. But Gay’s mom, who is a teacher, wrote great letters, letters that her dad has kept in a box all these years. Those letters kept their relationship alive, and they have built a sturdy family of five kids, all of whom are successes in their own right.
Next in line is Bobby, the eldest son, Gay’s senior by four years. Bobby fell in love with his pretty College classmate Cocoy and she for him. But then they had to be away from each other also during the review days, when he reviewed in Manila and she in Davao. After passing the board exam, Bobby got a job in San Miguel but had to be stationed in Cagayan de Oro while Cocoy became our College teacher in Zamboanga. Though only fourteen hours apart, they still did not get to see each other as much as they wanted to, and yet, after many years in this set up, they remained together, got married in 2006, and now have two kids.
Tonton, the second child, followed in his dad’s footsteps and also became a soldier after he graduated in PMA. He fell in love with a nurse and married her before she moved to USA to work. Now he gets to see her every six months when she gets to come home. I don’t get why he does not follow her there. Maybe he just loves to serve our country that much? Or maybe, just like the rest of his family, long distance works for him just fine.
Joseph, a year younger than Gay, came to Makati with us back in 2004 and has been working here since then while his girlfriend is based in Cebu. They have been together for four years now and Gay reports that he still calls her everyday. Thank you, Sun Cellular! This ought to make a good commercial.
Only the youngest daughter, who is just a High School freshman, has never had a long distance relationship in the family. So is it so wrong of me to think that long distance romance is embedded in their DNA? Looking at their family’s pattern and at the way Gay’s face blooms lately, especially when she’s talking to her boyfriend over the phone, I do have a basis when I say that I think they will work out just fine.^^