Ka-Blog!

Because I am being needled for a testi and about my testes, I’m forced to write this.

            The culprit’s Ruzanne Romo.  She’s “Nene” to friends and family.  Try hard as I might though, I simply can’t associate the woman with virginal and innocent girls “Nenes” usually are in this neck of the woods.

            She’s loud, a dynamo, a whirlwind.  I have never seen her in a quiet, contemplative, shy, or bashful mode.  One always knows Ruzanne is nearby because the ground shakes and air particles clash.  She disturbs everything by simply being there.  When she opens her mouth, the experience is akin to the Red Sea being parted or the bomb being dropped on Nagasaki.  You just know.

            She’s pregnant with Gian (see picture) when we met at Iloilo City.  Her chemical imbalance at the time must be so acute to have found me, ahem, charming and oh-so-gwapo.  (I really can’t blame her though.  You see, I sometimes am.)  I did not mind her much though because of a certain girl named Hazel who was my squeeze during that convention.

            Two years later, fresh from the CEGP congress I chaired (successfully!) at Initao, Misamis Oriental, the new executive committee decided to pay her a visit in Malaybalay. (Ok, one of the reasons was to give TC and CA and JL and SdM more time together on the road to that lovely city.)  I remember the night trip we took and my agony as I bounced on a stack of boxes at the back of the bus. 

            But I was glad I joined that trip.  I really got to know Ruzanne and I got to know her family.  Mountainous Malaybalay is cooler than most places in this country but I was warmed by the welcome the Romos gave us.  Red Horse helped a bit but the hospitality was genuine.  This was evidenced by the good food they and their relatives force fed us while we were there.

            Our visit was brief.  It lasted for less than two days.  But whenever I see pictures of the impressive mountains of Bukidnon, or its sweeping pineapple fields, or the lovely wild sunflowers along the road back to Cagayan de Oro, I think of Ruzanne, her family, and the good time we all had.

            They make me want to visit Malaybalay again.