my virtual friend

the japanese started the craze. the world is raved by a new phenomenon. a phenomenon that changes on how people look at their best friends. people recognized the advent of virtual friends. they adopted tamaguchi, a japanese virtual pet.

but i am not talking about tamaguchi or the many virtual or online pets or gadgets that are flooding our market today. i am not talking about some sort of technology-created being. i am talking about a real breathing person, a real lady and a real mother.

i met her courtesy of technology - through the cybermyx, a segment of MYX music channel. it was in the early november of 2001. we were both grappling and sailing through rough seas then. we both had personal issues and we depended on eah other. the one, two or more (sms) messages we exchanged daily kept as sane everyday. we believed that there are still better days and brighter tomorrow despite the nimbus clouds hanging over our heads.

it has been seven long years now that we had remained in touch with one another. we weathered some storms in our respective lives and had lived happy somehow. our communications were not regular or constant. you can actually count it with your fingers the frequencies of our conversations in a year. though occasionally, we have exchanged letters (not love letters) for one year especially during special days or holidays. there were even years when we only communicated twice a year - on her and my birthday.

what is laughable about it was she was my first textmate and i was her first too. more funny is she became my first and last textmate. we were textmates but i could not remember if we really had exchanged more than 10 sms daily. the unlimited txt and call services were not yet on the drawing board of the giant mobile phone providers yet people were starting to become text-holic then.

i never had met this friend personally even we were afforded with opportunities. but we do see each other in friendster now. we never actually have done chatting online. our communications were through mobile phones only.

what keep us until now is because we trusted each other. we didn’t think of our friendship budding into something special or hoping that it would become a romantic one. we talked about our families, our lives and the guy or girl of our lives. and we talked about our works. she was connected with the local government unit and i was with the academe then. until now, we still have this line of conversation. nothing really have changed. we were, as always, excited on what’s next; what’s instore for us by life.

she is from up north - from bataan and still resides there today. ms. merriza “izza” dugay is truly my virtual best friend. now a mother to a very pretty girl “tinay” and a loving wife to a husband. she’ll probably be a godmother of my future child. i’m pretty sure she’ll be happy with it.

until then, my best friend.