TWO much goodbyes

I don’t exactly remember how we started to be close but there’s one incident that made me see how considerate my blonde officemate is.

Three years ago, marketing and licensing share the same room at our old office in Roosevelt. Mariah is from marketing and I do licensing. One day she approached me, “are you scared of cockroaches?” “Yes I am. In fact I am scared of everything that crawls.” What I didn’t know that time was, a big roach was there beneath my desk, around my leg area and Mariah noticed it and told everybody in the room about it except me. No wonder they were all laughing as Mariah asked me that question. She waited until I got-off my desk and left the room before getting rid of that big roach. There were lots of them in that old building (the same building where most of the shots in Spiderman 2 were filmed) because the tenants at the lowest level were either cafés or convenient stores. When I returned, she told me about the roach and I asked why she didn’t tell me at once, and she said she doesn’t want to freak me out. What a nice gesture! I mean nowadays such is rare. Even friends and family would put you up into something for a laugh…I mean not in bad way but…yes.

From then on, Mariah and I became good friends at work. She is a very good listener and adviser; this is despite the fact that I am much older than her. She’s got patience listening to my stories and experiences. Most of all, she’s an excellent movie critic. We both have Netflix and regularly I would ask her for good movies and I liked her recommendations, she usually classifies them as: this is what’s good for you and your husband; good for you; good for your husband; and of course, those good for the kids. She’s a graphics designer and a couple of times I would ask her help with my picture layouts, company stationery (she custom made one for me), colors for my EDGAR tables (HTML files), and many other extras.

Mariah is so easy to be with, straight, and simple. She is most lovely when she is blushing red. She is one of the few full-blooded whites who loved Filipino food, even her preference of spaghetti sauce had switched from the American-Italian style to the sweet tasting Pinoy sauce with hotdogs. I told her, she crossed over, and I appreciate her more for it. Last week, she moved to the clean air of Portland…

Almost a year ago today, my boss told me someone’s going to help me with my department’s load. He said this person’s sort of not challenged with her present duties and looks for more interesting tasks, like those in licensing. Perfect timing, I said to myself, as that time, upcoming projects and current ones were pushing for the same deadlines.

Fera is a natural beauty, young, ambitious, and willing to learn. Step by step I taught her the expectation and routines of the department. Some she got fast, some took time. Work wise, there were times we had friction, but beyond work, we became the closest of co-workers, sharing each other’s daily happenings, worries (we both are worriers and she is my younger version), sentiments about life, politics, our countries of birth, marriage, careers, money, and almost every other topic under the sun. Fera, like Mariah, is so accommodating and treat her friends well.

She saved the last hugs for me…my make-up washed with tears. She relocated to Flagstaff with her fiancée…a month before Mariah left.

Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are friends. Richard Bach