Monday Moment w/ Mona

Mona Veronica Cu (Ang) is unique in my small circle of Favorite People in that we've rarely seen each other. Before this dinner meeting in Greenhills that was arranged last week I could count the number of times we made eye-contact in one hand, and that's including the first time I met her at her sister Melody's high school graduation ceremony back in 1997. I found out that had she finished her schooling in Saint Jude (and not transferred to Uno) we would've been batchmates.

After that a friendship grew from nothing but phone calls and sharing stories, mostly from her. Yes, she's a talker w/ a strong personality, but we never run out of stuff to talk about. Admittedly I was already attracted to her from that first meeting, but the mention of the "B" Word in one of our phone-chats (Oh, my boyfriend likes to play volleyball, too.) was like a simultaneous kick to the throat, nuts and gut. While I managed to keep my composure in the conversation, after we hung up I wept a little that night.

(Ugh, pre-college sappiness. Gross.)

Despite that innocent revelation I kept communication ties going. If she can't be my girlfriend, at least she'll make a great friend, and in that decision I did not err. Even when she invited me to her 18th birthday party and her wedding day, I kept any lingering feelings to myself, knowing that Hollywood rom-com plot twists and/or last-minute declarations of affection were uncomfortable and creepy when done in real life.

Contrary to what her friends say (not that I can confirm if they did say it, but I just like opening w/ a cliche, sometimes), Mona is more a workhorse than a workaholic. Meeting w/ her casually should be done w/ an appointment, w/c can't be helped. Had she been a desk jockey instead of being a construction site overseer she would not be a slave to circumstance. Bad enough to only gets to play w/ her 2 kids on Sunday. Playing with her husband Melvin is a subject for a more mature blog, so there.

She's also of two minds when it comes to meeting would-be fellow Ad Extremians. On the one hand she's curious to see if her perception of them from grade school has matched, surpassed or missed any expectations of what they ought to be like now. On the other hand she's afraid of not knowing any of their names or faces. I keep telling not to worry as I'd be doing introductions, and maybe even prepare name tags if laryngitis ever gets me.