THE LOVE MONTH

I was supposed to go to an SFC trip today in Bakersfield, CA (which is halfway between San Francisco and LA). But because of reasons I do not really want to discuss, I ended up not going. Upset though as I was, I still went to the BCBP assembly scheduled for today. Kuya Junby (hi!) led the worship and the topic for today's assembly was, as it's February, love.

*(Kudos to Kuya Junby for leading a powerful worship and for the nice explanation of Hosea's story as it relates to God's love for His people)

Anyway, being that I wasn't able to go to the trip, I wanted God to have a good reason for keeping me here in the Bay Area. And apparently there was a pretty good reason. You see, one of the BCBP members, Eileen, has a 27 month old son, Gabe (who's really cute). During the assembly, they had to rush Gabe to the hospital because his airways were constricted. Ate Roda (another member) drove them because Eileen was already in a state of utter panic. Ate Roda left her car at All Saint's so she asked Elaine (my friend who I rode with to the assembly) and I to wait for her so she can pick up her car and then drive Eileen's car back to the hospital. It was perfect, as there were 3 of us and 3 cars to drive.

Before we left, I had a brief chat with Kuya Ben. Without going into long details about what's happening with the members of the group, let me just say that there are a lot suffering from various illnesses. And as we said our goodbyes to each other, he was going to say, "sana gumaling ka na." But since I wasn't sick (anymore), he just said, "sana magkaboyfriend ka na!" To which I replied jokingly, "Sana nga!" He said, "Ay, oo! Pinagdadasal ko!" Then I said, "Sige ha! Hanap mo din ako." And he said, "Hindi yun hinahanap. Binibigay ni God yun!" So I said, still jokingly, "Sige pagdasal mo na lang na ibigay na." Of course he didn't know that I want to spend this year (2006) "in solitude." (I coudn't come up with a better term for it)

Then, when we were at the parking lot, Diane, Ate Edith's daughter, asked me if Eileen's car was my car. And I said, "YES! for the time being." Then I looked at the back, and it had a car seat, and I jokingly said, "Wow! Nanay na ako. May car seat ako!" To which, Ate Edith replied, "Practice yan!" I said, "Naku ha! Wag muna!!!" Then she said, "Sana malapit na! Kelan ba? Sana malapit na talaga para flower girl si Patricia (her youngest daughter who's six). And I exclaimed, "PRESSURE! Ang laking PRESSURE!" And she just laughed with me. :-)

Then we went to Children's Hospital Oakland, the hospital where I volunteered for a year during my senior year in college. Ate Roda led the way ('coz we didn't know how to get there by driving - I took the BART when I used to volunteer) with Elaine and I following her. As I was driving, I remembered another past inspiration, David Gamboa, MD. I met him when I was at Chicago 5 years ago. We had similar personalities and interests. He and I were on the same floor. He was my RA in the dorm I was staying at. He was a medical student at Northwestern University and I was a medical student wannabe. He and I were born on December 9. He and I both wanted to be Pediatricians, because we were inspired by our pediatricians. It's uncanny. Meeting him was like meeting the older male version of myself.

Although he said he wanted to go to Boston for residency (to which I said, "why not Children's Hospital in Oakland?"), he ended up doing his residency in ... guess where ... CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OAKLAND! So I remembered that while I was driving to Oakland. I freaked out for a bit. I knew I wanted to see him, but I didn't really want to talk to him.

When we got to Children's, we first went to check up on Gabe. They had been waiting for more than 2 hours at the ER and they still haven't been seen by any doctors. Gabe was wheezing, but otherwise he was okay. He's such a cute boy! I gave Eileen her car keys, then Elaine and I left.

Then we went back to go around the hospital (it wasn't a huge one). I took her to the Cafeteria where I used to each my lunch after volunteering on a Friday morning. I took her to the Volunteer Office, where I would sign in before starting my shift and sign out after my shift. I took her to the 4th and 5th floors where I spent most of my time going around the floors asking kids if they wanted to come to the playroom, wheeling kids in carts all around the floor, bringing toys, DVDs, and books to kids. I also showed her where the playroom was.

While we were touring, Elaine would look at the whiteboard charts that they have to see if there's a GAMBOA listed anywhere. But to no avail. We even passed by the residents' rooms on the 4th floor and she seriously wanted to knock on each door to see if anybody knew where Dave was. I didn't like the idea, so out of respect for me, she didn't do it. :-)

I let out a huge sigh of relief as we left CHO because I wouldn't really know what I would do if I saw Dave, but was also a bit disappointed at not having seen him. As we pulled out the parking garage and was waiting for the light to turn green so we can make our left turn, a car (coming from the intersection) was coming into the street where we were waiting. I couldn't contain myself, all I could do was say, "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh." Elaine asked, "Nandyan? Nasaan?" I pointed the car to her. I got what I wished for. I wanted to see him yet not talk to him. :-)

And I'm really glad I didn't go to the SFC trip. :-D

*taken 5 years ago in Chicago; fr L-R, Dave, Me and Winston