Speaking of the sea I just came across a song about a voyage. I don't know how to send a song thru the pc so you'll just have to go out and buy the cd itself. It's called the Irish Tenors. I like all the 20 songs in there but the one so meaningful to me is called The Voyage. Al and John would love this song also. Here's the lyrics:


I am a sailor, you're my first mate,
We signed on together, we've coupled our fate
Hauled up our anchor determined not to fail
For the heart's treasure together we set sail…

With no maps to guide us we steered our own course
We rode out the storms when the wind was gale force
Sat out the doldrums with patience and hope
Working together we learned how to cope.

Life is an ocean, love is a boat
In troubled waters it keeps us afloat
When we started the voyage there was just me and you
Now gathered 'round us we have our own crew.

Together we're in this relationship
We built it with care to last the whole trip
Our true destination's not marked on any chart
For we're navigating the shores of the heart.

Life is an ocean, love is a boat, etc....


This would be a very beautiful song to play for a very special occasion. It's still about five and a half years from now but time flies so fast these days it will be here before we know it. Which of course reminds me of the story you wanted to hear.

It started when we were both 19. We went to the same school, St. Michael's College, Commerce Department. I was majoring in Accounting, she in Banking and Finance.

She was easily one of the most beautiful girls in college for she was the Corps Sponsor, that is, the sponsor of the ROTC Corps Commander. The Corps Sponsor is voted on by the entire ROTC Unit and whoever gets the most vote is easily the most beautiful.

I was an ordinary bumbling cadet, a corporal. I remember one incident during what they called then the tactical inspection. My platoon was marching one way - I alone was marching the opposite way. That was the time I think when she started to notice me - as did everybody else. The military has never been one of my likes. I wanted to be a commercial pilot, or a journalist, never a soldier. When I first went to college I enrolled in the Arts because I wanted to pursue a journalistic career so Babes, I think you took after me.

When I met this girl I shifted to Commerce so we could be in the same class most of the time. I had two things going for me - at this time I was already employed at PNB which at that time was a very prestigious employer, salary wise. The minimum monthly pay then was 120 pesos a month. I was getting paid 160 pesos a month!

My position was Janitor but my job was more clerical and messengerial for we hired somebody to do janitorial work at 2 pesos a week which I paid. The second thing going for me was her best friend in school was my second cousin Mila Salazar who was also in Commerce. There was another girl named Marietta Alava (God rest her soul) and the three of them were inseparable.

Since Mila was my cousin I was accepted in this group. And that's when it first started. I would send her love letters and love poems (I already had a collection of love poems then starting with Elizabeth Barrett-Browing) - not in ordinary 8 x 11 paper - but typed in 2-1/2-inch wide adding tape which I would then roll and would look like a one inch thick adding tape. The other girls never suspected she was reading a love letter or love poems for she would just unroll the tape while reading and the top page would automatically roll itself again and by the time she gets to the bottom of the page the tape has rolled up again.

Oh, the things I have to do to catch her attention. I studied hard to be at the top 5 of the class and at this time was Editor-in-Chief of the college paper, The Sword and the Shield.

In 1957 my Dad was transferred to Palawan so I was the only one left in Iligan. On May 23, 1957 the whole downtown of Iligan was burned down by a catastrophic fire. Our office was among those burned and Mom's Dad lost everything in his business when they didn't renew their insurance that year. He died in March of 1958 and at this time we both felt like it's just the two of us against the world so after 3 years of being sweethearts we decided to get married in October of that year. When we got married, none of my family attended as they were in Palawan and just too far away and too expensive to come. So that's how it started - a bumbling cadet falls in love with the Corps sponsor.

I was only her second boy friend. My first love in 3rd year high school was a girl named Llura Agcaoili, but she never did like me or maybe just too afraid of her Ilocano dad to have anything to do with me. She became a nurse and is now somewhere in Florida.

My second one was Julia Hayrosa. We were sweethearts for just one month, April of 1953, at our high school graduation month. That's why I'll never forget the song, "I'll Remember April." She's still Sister Julie with the Sisters of Mercy community in Iligan.

The third was a girl named Pacita Marzo. Her dad owned that property now known as Timoga Beach Resort so she's a very rich woman now when they divided the property after his death. I never got the chance to see her the last time I was in Iligan. Ours also lasted just about a month. We just had one movie date and after that we just sort of drifted apart and since that date never heard from each other again. So Mom was my third (don't count my first love for it was unreciprocated!) and ours lasted about 3 years. Oh, I met a girl when I was vacationing in Palawan and her name was Natalia Tan, but then and there decided that Rosalia Tan was a better name. So you see, so hum drum. Love,
Dad, Feb 2003