A Friend Named Gerry, a Church Choir, a Carrot, an Egg, and a Cup of Coffee |
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Columns - A Cup O' Kapeng Barako | |||
Thursday, 05 August 2010 14:04 | |||
By Jesse Jose A Cup O' Kapeng Barako I delete them all, especially "forwarded" items that I find in my e-mail box. With my pointing finger, I rapidly punch on the button, "delete," and I delete, delete, delete, MOST ESPECIALLY e-mails from people, who I consider as "toxic people." I don't even wanna read what they have to say. But now and then, I'd get something interesting and worth my while reading. And they usually come from positive people that I consider "friends," in the truest sense of the word. I have very few such friends. That's the way I like it. Only a chosen few, like the U.S. Marine Corps motto. Now, this one came from Gerry Garrison. He's a friend, truly a friend. He's a fellow Knight and the former Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Auburn Council of our Holy Family Catholic Church here in He's a retired U.S. Navy Chief like me. He's not completely retired though from working. He's still earning his keep, so to speak, and works for QWEST as Network Operations Manager. A sizable number of fellow Filipinos comes and worships in our church. And growing steadily in numbers, too. Every Sunday, at mass, I'd see a couple of new faces. So, our parish priest, who we fondly call, "Father Tim," suggested that perhaps a Filipino choir be formed. The good Father of our church called for this choir, and we heeded his call. A nd, as if guided by the invisible hand of the Lord, one Sunday morning after mass, this choir was formed. A handful of us, regular church-goers, got "pulled" by this Hand into one little corner of the church and we just simply agreed to meet for our first practice. I suppose it was meant to be formed, for each of us who agreed to meet, showed up. Thus this choir was born. And in honor of the one and only Filipino saint, we named our group, So, there's Josie Hurst and Jocelyn Ortega, who are both guitar players; Jun Ortega, who is Jocelyn's husband and their piano-playing 15-year-old-son, "JJ." And Debbie Collantes. And Malou Malonzo and her husband, Rico, and their 13-year-old daughter, Kate. And Maribel and me, and our son, Jonathan. And Gordon Bennett, a half-Filipino, half-American, who grew up in Pampanga and who speaks three Filipino dialects: Ilocano, Pampango and Tagalog. When I first met and briefly talked with Gordon, I thought he was born in the Josie, the leader of our group, said to me during one of our practice meetings, and I'll never, never forget it: "Jesse, 'when you sing to the Lord, you pray twice to the Lord,' as St. Augustine said." And then, last but not least, there's Gerry and his beautiful granddaughter, Tarhata. Though he's a "white dude," Gerry, I told the group, is also at heart, a Filipino. He's married to a Filipina, named Also, he knows how to speak a few words of Tagalog, like "salamat," "kumusta," "walang anuman," "mahal kita." He's fluent though in understanding Tagalog, because whenever I speak to him in Tagalog, he seems to understand what I am saying. And he's a good singer. He knows all the songs that are sung during mass. He's a good man. He easily smiles. I am honored to have won his friendship. Whenever his wife, Tara, and my wife, Maribel, see each other on Sundays after church, hindi matapos-tapos ang kuwentuhan nila. We all have gone out to dinner a couple of times, and we would talk and talk and talk, and laugh and laugh and laugh, like endlessly. I talk too much . . . H ere's what Gerry forwarded to me. The lesson taught here is priceless. Happy reading, Dear Readers. A CARROT, AN You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," the daughter replied. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. BTW, this is Gerry's logo in his e-mail to friends: Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile. E-mails from good people and good friends, like Gerry's, are the ones I never "delete" from my e-mail box. JJ
Editor’s Note: Perhaps after reading this instant column of Jesse Jose, readers may like to browse another article, which carries several lessons about life, especially about coffee cups or mugs,
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 August 2010 14:50 |
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That's very touching, and very thoughtful of your friend Gerry to have forwarded it to you. It's good you didn't delete it or we would not have read and felt the message. Do I take it that Kapeng Barako got its sprightly punch from that coffee? Best regards,
Romy Marquez
You're one of those whose e-mails I don't delete. BTW, do you know that coffee does not only give you that "sprightly punch" for deleting emails from toxic people, but it's also a potent anti-oxidant, better than green tea? Cheers to coffee, pare.
And thanks for your comment.
Jesse
Sent: 8/6/2010 12:31:13 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Re: KAPENG BARAKO: My friend, Gerry, a Church Choir, a Carrot, an Egg, and Coffee
Hi Jesse,
This was a great thought story, thanks.
Dawn
I was browsing the internet when I came across this article. After i had read it myself. I informed my grandparents of my finds also. This was a great story. I enjoyed reading it.
-Tarhata Garrison