Rendezvous
Maybe the terrible heat is driving me insane and forcing me to look into places that were once filled with cheery memories. Just maybe.
The headlights of the car swept the road as I turned right from the Academic Oval onto Ylanan Road. Part of me was wishing to see someone familiar sitting among the CMC tambayans, Batibot, or even at the fishball kiosk. Of course, silly me, there was no one there. It was 8 in the evening, Holy Tuesday. I made a quick U-turn and headed toward Quezon Hall.
I parked the car and got out. A fine sight met my eyes as I discovered the entire building, as well as the amphitheater behind it, was lit. I've never seen it so beautiful and dazzling before (on another note, if it were always lit during nighttime, maybe the number of, ahem, nocturnal incidents in the nearby Lagoon would drop). The university logos in the Quezon Hall steps were lit, and the wide of expanse of green in the amphitheater was illuminated in a way I've only seen in baseball fields and soccer stadiums. It was breathtaking, to say the least.
I leaned over one of the metal risers that have not been taken down since Sunday and peered into the distance, my mind trying to bring back memories of the surrounding environs beyond the commencement exercises last Sunday. All I could think of was the Lantern Parade last year, the amphitheater brimming with colors and laughter and friends holding you as fireworks lit the evening sky.
I turned my back to face the Oblation, the university's quintessential symbol, and took comfort in the orange streetlights that lit University Avenue all the way to Commonwealth Avenue. I sat on the Quezon Hall steps and thought of the many occasions we walked under the artificial brightness of those lampposts, oblivious to whatever little traffic there was at midnight, without a care in the world.
I slipped behind the wheel, reversed out of the parking lot, and then drove off into the distance.
It's amazing really, that barely 48 hours after I find myself suffering from what could only be withdrawal symptoms. And I just don't know why.
Photo Credit: http://homepage.mac.com/jdalisay/blog/user_files/oblation.jpg