My 'one day'

THIS WEEK’S WINNER

MANILA, Philippines - Angelica G. Macatangay, 22, graduated last April LPU-St. Cabrini College of Allied Medicine and passed the Nursing Licensure Examination last July. “I love Glee. I play tennis. I bleed purple and gold and I’m a die-hard Ginebra fan. I am an astronomer at heart. I watch meteor showers and gaze in wonder at the Milky Way for hours.” She is planning to take up medicine.

Is there one specific day that has changed your life forever?

David Nicholls’s One Day is a funny, moving, hopeful yet heartbreaking book that centers on the lives of two people: Emma Morley, a bookish and idealistic woman who wants to change the world and make a difference yet lacking confidence; and Dexter, an irresistible, very wealthy bad boy with an entirely different set of priorities and principles in life who “wanted to live in such a way that if a photograph was taken at random, it would be a cool photograph.” Though Em and Dex are two exact opposites, they form an unlikely friendship that begins on July 15, 1988 on the night of their graduation, where they first meet, where their lives are changed forever.

You may say it’s just a typical love story — boy meets girl, girl meets boy, become best of friends and fall in love with each other — but no, it’s not. What makes it so special? It starts on July 15 then stops on that same day of every succeeding year for two decades. For 20 July 15ths, the book reveals Em and Dex’s transformation, tells their stories and describes where they are through snapshots. Sometimes they are together. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes they are happy. Sometime they are not.

Okay, I think I should stop now. I’m not going to give the specifics of the storyline. I don’t want to give too much away because I, for one, really had a remarkable reading experience with this book and I think it’s for everyone to experience it for themselves too. Not that I have the same experience as the protagonists, not that I have been in love with one person for 20 or so years, not that I have a real “Dexter,” it’s just that it has something bigger than that and deeper than romance and drama. One Day has something that deeply affected me. Whenever I flipped through the pages of this book, it made me ponder life and made me look at my own life from a different perspective.

The book made me ask myself when was my “one day” or did I ever have that one day? Did Atlas ever shrug my life? I have a happy life, no doubt about that, but still I couldn’t answer myself. I couldn’t think of any day in my life that marked my transformation. For a fleeting moment, I thought my life was boring — a book without a climax, a song without a coda, a carousel with ups and downs but without a thrill, a hazy memory. But as I kept on reading the book and near its ending, I paused for a second and cried. I realized that I’m such a daft person for thinking my life isn’t exciting! That I don’t have my one day! Because the truth is I have lots! I have thousands even. I have 8,166 days to be exact (and counting). I can’t believe how blind I was. Every day is an adventure. Every day is a challenge. Every day is an opportunity to change things, to turn the ordinary into extraordinary. Every day is made to be the one day. Why did it take me so long to realize that?

And long before, we were told that life is short but I guess it is neither short, nor long. It just depends on how we choose to live it. Emma Morley died on July 15, 2004; it broke my heart. I hated David Nicholls for that but Emma lived her life to the fullest and gave all the love she could give and though it was depressing, I think that was enough. So I learned another valuable lesson. I learned to appreciate things more… to really look at the value of things and of people around me. I learned how to begin with the acceptance of what is, and then make a difference in my own little way.

As Emma always said, “Live each day as if it’s your last… Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately, and fully and well. Experience new things, love and be loved, if ever you get that chance.” Yes, it’s a cliché, I’ve heard it a million times but then again, I’ve ignored it a thousand times too but today and for the remaining days of my life, I will always remember that and keep that to my heart.

The day I stopped wondering what was my one day and started appreciating things, God gave me my one true day, a very life-changing moment, the climax, the coda, the turning point of my life… August 20, 2011. He added two letters after my name: RN.