Lemons and Lessons

Do you have a friend who is totally the opposite of you? When I say the opposite, I mean someone who has the qualities you dislike the most. But in spite of your differences, you still managed to accept and love each other. Well, I have that kind of relationship to most of my great friends, and one of those “great people” is Marky.

Marky is maangas, Marah is manang. Marky is confident, Marah is timid. Marky is loud-ER, Marah is loud. Marky is an Optimus Prime, Marah is(was) a Negatron. And the list of our differences can go on forever. But regardless of all our differences, we still have a lot of things in common, such as our love for Aqua, theater, arts, laughter, ENGLISH SUBJECT (=p), and people.

My relationship with Marky isn’t just the barkada-type-of-relationship. I believe that we go beyond that, but not as friends to lovers type. Ew. No. Haha. Our friendship is most likely a-brother-sister-kind-of-relationship. I look up to him as my Kuya outside my own biological family, not to mention he really resembles my Kuya (the way they talk, make others people laugh and even the way they dance). So it’s not difficult for us to get along, especially I am a certified kuya’s girl!

There was a time when we had a conversation; I was a very passionate blogger in tumblr then and he’s one of my readers and he randomly told me,” Oi feature mo ako sa blog mo!”. As a blogger, I was really flattered but I know he’s just being sarcastic. But one thing I’m sure of, with or without that statement, I know that I will feature him here in my new platform. For the impact he has made in my life, It’s impossible for me to forget to write about him here. And he deserves it.

Marky has the star potential! He’s one of the most talented people I’ve ever known. He’s truly gifted when in comes to art.Ironically it may seems, he’s now in his junior year in University of Santo Tomas taking up a Degree in Electrical Engineering. Perhaps, he found a certain art or magic in Engineering world, an art that my naked eyes couldn’t see because I’m too blinded by my love for the ART of ARTS. Honestly, I see him as a film-maker, an actor or a media person or maybe a businessman in the future, but being an engineer doesn’t even cross in mind… not even once. So his career choice was a really surprise for me. Knowing him for more than five years, I know he only not despise spiders but he also despise Math with all his heart, and yet he is taking an Engineering Degree. Absurd, right? But that is life and people… we’re all wrapped up by mysteries.

Marky is the only friend who is never hesitant, always willing to tell you the words you need to hear, regardless of how much it can hurt you. I can still clearly remember the moments when he said to my face that I am “stupid”, ” gullible” and “this particular guy doesn’t/didn’t love me”. Those words seem painful, but they really help me to find the better version of myself. Yes, those moments hurt me, but I never hold grudes towards marky. In stead of finding an enemy in him, I found a confidant, a great friend, a brother who always ready to save me from being a total crap. We have friends that couldn’t grasps the way he talks, because he is too frank and straight forward.But in my case, I even appreciate that he can tell me not only the things I need to hear, but also the things I need to know. I understand that he only says those words for my own growth.

Maybe a lot of times, he’s often misunderstood by many, because of his angst and use of words, but there’s a side of him that maybe not most people know. Marky’s a mentor.A very good mentor, not only in theater but also in life. I consider him as one of my life coaches. I can talk to him about everything under the sun: from back-stubbing our high-school teachers lol-to diet tips down to my personal dilemmas. In fact, he’s the only friend who knows my deepest personal problem. And I’m so grateful for having that kind of friendship with him. I feel so blessed that he’s able to share that side of him with me. He’s not really a man of criticism, really.He’s actually a man of wisdom.

He’s the one who told me, “Never say you’re not living your life, because you always live your life. Just don’t hold back.” His sayings are really far from the norm, i.e others would say, “I’m so excited for what life has in store for me!” But, Marky would say ” I’m excited for what “I” in store for my life, because for him, people shouldn’t expect life to give us lemons. We should be the ones giving lemons to life. In his words, ” You’re the one living it anyway, it’s not the life living you.”

And If there’s one powerful statement he told me before, that would be, “I don’t have a best friend, I only have great friends….and you’re one of them.” This guy has no idea how much that means to me. I feel like I’m doing something right when he says that. No words can express how much I feel so blessed when I heard those words coming from his mouth. And I’m actually getting a bit of emotional while typing this, but I’m thankful that I have the privilege to be loved and trusted by “D’ Marc Malibiran”.

I am positive that there are a lot of people who got inspired by this guy. And I’d love to hear each of their story on how Marky inspires them. And of course, I can’t wait to express how much I’m proud of him. I’m just one of the thousand blessed people to have given a chance to meet a guy who is not related to me, but treat me as part of his own family.

I’m so happy on everything he’s achieving right now. And I can’t wait to see on how he’ll become in the future. I know he’s such a popular kid and a lot of girls are admiring him….and I know fame can get overwhelming and it might change him (I hope it won’t), but if ever that happens, I wouldn’t hesitant to punch him hard or hit him by a cartolina =p! No I’m just kidding. Marky’s the one who reminds me that change is essential and is the one who’s encouraging me to change…for the better. That’s why I’m at peace…that if ever he would change…I know he would change for the better, perhaps, for the best 🙂

***

Marky,

Thank you for always believing in me, for being the first person to cry (in front of the class) when you all knew that I was leaving for NZ. I won’t forget that, you cry baby!! haha and for the amazing friendship.I seriously can’t wait to talk to you again and just hear your kwentos. I hope that there’ll be more trials will come your way. Yes “trials”, because I know that those circumstances will make you suffer yet will teach you life lessons that will hone you to become the best Marc Malibiran that you can be! And I hope you’ll pass on all those lessons to your future kiddos and sharpen them to become a role model like you are right now. 🙂

Marky says, ” I’m excited for what “I” in store for my life” ; But, Marah says, ” I’m excited for what God has in store for my life.”

God bless you, Maesran! 🙂

Love,
Euqorx