Yes, July will always be that month na marami akong maaalala. From the moment I was born up to today.

Most painful July sa buhay ko would be that July na I was pregnant with my son kasi that was the same July when our older sister died. She died the day after my birthday. Official diagnosis was complication ng appendicitis pero sa bundok namin, ang sabi nila kinulam daw ang kapatid ko. May nakaaway daw kasi syang kapitbahay nila weeks before she complained of abdominal pains. She died three days after sya naoperahan. I won't go into the details kasi maiiyak lang ako lalo. It would have been her birthday four days ago.

Second memorable July in my list would be that July na may natanggap akong text saying "I'm sorry, it's over. Please don't contact me again".

After days of not talking, 'yon ang natanggap ko from my then-boyfriend of nine months. And he sent me that text the day before my birthday. Oh di ba masaya? Syempre umiyak ako right then and there. Buti nalang may supportive akong officemate nun. Hinila nya ako palabas ng office para dun ako sa labas umatungal. And he brought me out for lunch para lang makinig sa lahat ng hinaing ko.

Third memorable July would be that July of 2013. Yes, ten years ago pero malinaw pa sa 20/20 vision ang alaala ko anong nangyari nun.

Someone flew to where I was working. We spent three days together. Went to spend a night in another island with my officemates. I sent him to the airport on a Sunday and then bam! Hindi ata lumapag ang eroplano sa NAIA on the same day or the day after kasi he never texted na nakarating na sya o kung ano man ang nangyari sa kanya. He just disappeared. Ala-Manifest lang. Taena.

Para akong si tanga nun, hinagilap sya kung saan-saan. Mga chat apps na alam kong meron sya, natawag ako, nag-memessage, pero wala. Like, he just vanished from planet earth. Nagpunta atang Uranus. Wala din akong makuhang info. Lahat din ng common friends namin biglang naglaho o ayaw mag-comment.

Yes, I was so angry back then. It took me more than a year to get over him. At sya ang reason kung bakit ako pumasok sa FSS. So, thanks to him, nagkaroon ako ng libangan for the past ten years at nagkaroon ako ng mga friends who I can turn to kapag masyado ng masalimuot ang mundong ginagalawan ko.

And I met some of my friends here last month. Another July that made it to my list.

Since memorable nga para sa akin last July, isa-isahin natin.

First off, kasagsagan ng bagyong Egay when we flew to Manila. Yong bestfriend ko super stressed na while we were waiting for boarding kasi anlakas ng ulan. Sabi ko naman sa kanya wala kaming magagawa kasi sasakay at sasakay kami ng eroplano hangga't hindi cancelled ang flight. So instead of worrying about it, mag-Maritess nalang kami, mag-people watching o kung ano pa man. Feeling matapang ako pero aysus, takot ko din nun hindi maipinta. Ayoko lang syang pagbigyan kasi may tendency ako mag-panic attack, mas malala 'yon.

Sa awa ng Diyos, nakalapag naman kaming matiwasay sa NAIA after our three-hour flight.

My bestfriend took the connecting flight to Cebu after two hours while ako naman nag-Manila muna for three days.

First day, syempre pa...