To a good friend

Friday the 13th spelled sorrow for me and the rest of the security beat, after a colleague who sits just 20 inches away from me passed away because of heart attack this morning. What's more creepy is that he wrote 30 on the day he was born--today is his birthday.

As I write this article, some of my co-workers are already walking to Camp Crame chapel to pay their last respects for George Evardo or Kuya Geo or "Bai" because he hails from Visayas.

Everytime I work late than usual (which is darn near all the time) and the EDSA gate has closed, I need not worry because I know Kuya Geo will accompany me in my long walk to Camp Crame's Santolan gate. In those walks, he would share the happy and sad stories of his life; we also exchanged views about our job, and he even threw silly jokes (really silly), which made me laugh anyway.

He loved walking as a form of exercise. And the exercise buff that he is, I could not imagine he would die of a heart attack.

Life is indeed short.

I have a thousand memories of Kuya Geo. The way he delivers he news, the way he walks, and the way he peeks at my laptop to snoop on whatever story I was pursuing. At times I was generous but in the recent days I was secretive. Had I known he would say goodbye, I would have allowed him get all the details I have!

The little corner I share with Alcuin, Tin, Carlo and Kuya Geo will never be the same again. Today, I lost not just an officemate. I also lost a good friend, an older brother, a family.

Bye Kuya Geo, I will really miss you.