Serendipity
By Joanne Marie Combong - Pijuan

A lifelong affair

Not so long ago, I had one of those life-altering epiphanies. It dawned on me that like a jar of pickled beets or canned mushrooms, most of the things I really didn't care much about had two-year “shelf lives”; while those things that were truly special, those that I really loved and felt passionate about had no “expiration date”.

I've come to realize that after the requisite 24 months, if something does not add up or feel right, I automatically move on, pack my bags, and hotfoot to greener pastures. This same pattern, I noticed, had been replicated for years, usually involving my career and sometimes my relationships with people (romantic or otherwise). I don't believe in getting stuck with someone or something that makes me unfulfilled and unhappy.

And so a year and a half ago, armed with this epiphanic realization, I quit my job (best decision I ever made), literally packed my bags and left. I knew that it was time for me to pursue a passion that had been long overdue; a passion that definitely had no expiration date, no limitations, and no shelf life. After years of putting it on the backburner, I finally succumbed to my lifelong affair with the written word.

Come to think of it, “Serendipity”, my column in this newspaper, is actually 30-something years in the making. Like everything else that I have ever written (published or not), my column is the result of everything that has ever happened to me; everything that I've done, experienced, learned, and the influences that have come and gone in my life.

It is the result of being my lola's granddaughter; of having watched her write everyday when I was growing up; and of her having such a prominent influence in my life even after she died. “Serendipity” is also a product of all those years in high school writing for the Assumption Mariale; of being sent by the nuns to compete in all those obscure writing contests that thankfully, hardly no one ever knew about; of deciding to take Creative Writing in college and getting a 1.0 from the late Prof. Emeritus and National Artist Francisco Arcellana's poetry class; of having the privilege of sitting in Butch Dalisay's lectures and hanging out with Pete Lacaba's son, Kris, so I could get to talk to his Dad (he was and still is my idol -- Pete, not Kris); of failing miserably in Fiction class because my short stories were like “peacocks” (go figure); and of course, of having to prove myself to my racist/Burberry-wearing elitist of a teacher at the NYU by working twice as hard on my papers because I was not blonde, not Caucasian, and I didn't personally know Annie Leibovitz (unlike the French girl with the terrible grammar sitting in front of me in class).

And so, “Serendipity” is more than just the offspring of all those years I spent learning and honing my craft. For me, it is a labor of love and an affirmation that I am alive and doing something that I am genuinely passionate about. After years of denying myself the written word, finally I am here and hopefully, here for the long haul.

To The News Today , congratulations on your 5 th year and thank you for giving me the chance to be heard and be read.

One of the high points of my day is getting a text message or a phone call from people who read my column. And, regardless of their reactions (I get a whole range of “emotional” responses every Tuesday: amused, bitchy, touched, and angry, you name it, I get it); I get a thrill knowing that people actually spend their precious time reading what I have to write. That, for me, is both empowering and inspiring.

Again, thank you TNT, at last, I am able to do one of the things that I have always wanted to do and that is simply, to write.