Friends forever

Lately, I’ve been blessed to be in the constant company of my long-time high school chum Tintin Bersola. It’s great to find ourselves driven by the same things and passionate about family and advocacy. When we were in first year high school, we shared a driven entrepreneurial spirit and ecological awareness, picking up all the leftover soft drink bottles of our schoolmates, which we turned to cash after school. The money that we earned financed our merienda and other miscellaneous expenses. We didn’t see each other for a long time because I went on to finish high school in the States and we lost touch. Our paths crossed again after I became active in showbusiness, which was around the same time she started her career in television. We didn’t really have a chance to see each other then, but these days, we’re almost inseparable. Tin and I have guested on a couple of television shows together to talk about family life. She also invited me to do a back-to-back storybook reading session with her during the launch of her new children’s book, The Story of Christine. She gave my daughter Hannah a chance to sing for the finale of the book launch’s program, which turned out a success. Hannah felt so grateful being  part of the program because she has read the book and it spoke to her heart about the importance of being confident of one’s self no matter how different one is from other people. I’m glad Tin decided to write about her personal journey of overcoming her insecurities while growing up, like being teased by classmates because she was the tallest in class and facing her teenage years with awkwardness because of the many changes in her body. She often wondered whether she was still beautiful when she gained weight or when she realized she was not as light skinned as the other girls. When she became conscious though that she was not defined by who the world said she should be, she began to see things from the eyes of the creator that made her beautiful in her own unique way. She then began to have the assurance that she is, indeed, beautiful.

So many girls struggle with low self-esteem because they are often bombarded with ideas of who they should be instead of celebrating who they already are. Kudos, Tin, for a timely book! These days, Tin and I have found ourselves in the same circle again as part of the Artists in Development (AID) of the Pldt/Smart Foundation reaching out to cancer patients, orphans, and streetchildren. We went back into business (the last time was during our bottle-picking days!) by sharing a booth at the recently concluded Artist’s Fair which my niece, KC Concepcion, spearheaded. Since it was an event that would benefit the Virlanie Foundation and Hands on Manila, we felt so honored to be working together for such a worthy cause. Our Ukay “Book”ay booth sold books we’ve authored and used books from our collection and some from our friends’ libraries. It’s been great rediscovering a friendship that has been set aside for quite a number of years. I’m glad to get to know my friend Christine in a deeper way. What a joy to appreciate that true friends stay friends no matter what and this is just the beginning.

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E-mail author at mommytalk@businessworks.com.ph.