Friday, May 1, 2009

In Search of Wee

About a month ago, my elementary school classmate who is a doctor in the Philippines asked me to try to look for his aunt whom he said lives in California. He was planning on visiting this coming summer. I asked him for the last known address that he knew and whatever other information he had. I searched on the internet and the phone book and found a woman with the same name whose address happened to be about 3 miles from where I lived. Not only that, but it was on a street that the River Runners used to do their workouts on Saturday mornings. So for my running workout the next day, I decided to run to that house, check it out, then run back home. When I got to the address, I rang the doorbell and a young man answered. It appeared that I had woke him (must have been a night shift worker). I briefly stated the purpose of my unannounced visit, asked him if there was a woman whose name is so and so lives there and if she was from the Philippines, and he said yes. So I told him I was going to call their listed number later to give more information. Then I apologized for having woken him up then left to run back home. Later that day, I tried calling the number I got from the phone book and internet, but to my disappointment, the number was no longer in service. So a few days later, I wrote a letter addressed to the lady of the house introducing myself and restating the purpose of my prior visit. I left my email address and phone number in addition to my classmates email address in the Philippines. I put the letter in an envelope, ran from a different location, then dropped the letter in her mailbox. Later that day, I received a call from the lady and she acknowledged that she was indeed the aunt of my former classmate. We talked in our native dialect for a few minutes and I told her I was elated to find her and about being able to help my friend. Then to our mutual surprise, we found out that we work in the same hospital! What a coincidence! We had never met because I work in another building, but one night a few months ago, I had worked on the unit where she was a charge nurse. After talking for a few more minutes, we bade our goodbyes and believe it or not I could almost hear the song “It's a small world after all” in the background. I was very happy to be able to reunite an aunt and her nephew.

3 comments:

Jasmine said...

I have a story to tell too. Lori, a former classmate of mine in UP Diliman (Asian Center) came to my house during the Hariraya festivities without knowing who she was visiting...she came along with her boss, who was the Bruneian diplomat based in Paris at that time. Lori had been living in France since graduation. Imagine how surprised and delighted we both were...

Noel DLP said...

Jasmine, now I'm going to have "It's a small world after all" playing in my head repeatedly all day.

Noel DLP said...

I finally met my former classmates' aunt last week when I was sent to work at the main hospital building. I went to look for her during my break and we chatted briefly until I had to return to work. Very nice lady. She said she couldn't wait for my classmate to come and visit. Incidentally, she also knew my Uncle. What a small world indeed.

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