A stupid day called "Valentine's"

Day 45

Oh, Valentine's Day but call me cold-hearted and alike, but I've always, and by always, I mean ALWAYS, have thought that this day is purely commercial and not as innocent and pure as many thinks.  Initially my cynicism was due to simply being cold, but I quickly realized that it was all purely commercial and all the couples going crazy for a day and then they would be cheating on each other.  

In my youth it was mostly known as "day of lovers or love" but then turned into "day of love and friendship" just to commercialize the shit out of it, not only with lovers, but also with friends, so call me a pessimist but that is the main reason I don't really care about this day, but also don't get me wrong, I would participate in Valentine's related things just for the sake of having a good time.  With all that said, I want to share one final thing related to this day, and it was time I was in Colombia on Valentine's Day:

This was exactly 9 years ago, I wrote:

"Benefits of being in Colombia on Valentine's Day... Here there's no celebration, no people dress in red, no heart-shaped balloons, no corniness."  and to be honest I was so glad about that, but nevertheless, today sounds like a perfect day to write about my school crush and some related stories. 

*Side note: In Colombia they celebrate it in September.

If you went to school with me, you probably knew that I had a big crush on Gloria even though I hardly accepted that for various reasons.  I probably all started in middle school and in a very innocent way and definitely without any intentions, so we were on a class, probably geometry or something were we needed to use a ruler and all of the sudden she comes up to me and my friend, and ask my friend for the ruler and he said no, but I immediately said "why not?" and took the ruler and gave it to her and that stupid interaction started the rumor that "I liked Gloria".

Anyways, we started to grow older, hormones started to go crazy in puberty, but my game was non-existent and there was a thing I was not good with and still have issues around that and that is rejection. The "NO" was a feeling that I hated and got very nervous about, and at a young age you think that the whole world would fall apart if the person you liked rejected you, so, in order to prevent rejection, what did I do? well, NOTHING... funny huh?

A funny stupid story in high school was one day that she told me "She wanted to talk about something", and me very nervously told her to look for me during break.  When she finally came to me, I was to ask me how to beat a level in the Aladdin game for SNES.  You see, I was dumb and dork/nerd!

Anyways, we ended up being really good friends, she eventually got a boyfriend whom I befriended, and they dated for a few years.  After high school we ended up going to the same college but me for engineering and she for medicine, and one thing I loved (but also hated) is that if she would see me across campus, she would yell my name so freaking loud and also call me by the stupid nickname I used to have in middle school (and the nickname story will be another day).  We would laugh and tell stories but as things in life, we ended up growing apart for various reasons that are no important at the moment.

On a related story, one of my friends from college one day told me "Hey Omar, I ended up going to the place of someone from your high school, and I met this person and this other person" etc, and I remember clearly, he saying he met Gloria and that she was so cool and nice.  I told my friend, well, watch out, because she is a really great girl and you can fall for her even if you don't want to, and long story short, they dated for a few years after that.

As time went on, we would bump into each other now and then, and then one dreaded morning I receive a phone call from one of my closest friends, telling me that some people from college got into a horrible accident and that Gloria got very serious injuries and all he knew is that it was so bad that didn't know if she could make it.  At the point in my life, it was the first time someone (outside of family) so close to me was in the brink of death and that feeling of powerlessness got me, all I could was call a few friends and cry hoping for the best.

A few days later, just wondering about how she is doing, I get a phone call, can't recall exactly who was but they said "Gloria started asking about you", at the moment I was a little in disbelief, she had her closest friends with her, her amazing mom by her side all the time, her boyfriend and her ex giving all the support she needed, and yet she found the time to wonder about me.  I think I've never mention this to her, but this is something I truly appreciate and save in a very special place.  Maybe she will read this, idk, even though this is public I haven't made much fanfare about it.

Thankfully she made an amazing recovery, became an outstanding doctor and as time went on, got married and have two amazing kids. We do follow each other on social media, and through our high school WhatsApp group, we do chat from time to time.

My memories about her couldn't be better: someone extremely nice, very happy personality, loud and funny, a beautiful person inside and out.

So there you go, Happy Valentine's Day

This had to be in Semana Santa 1999 - I was not even 14 years old.  And here we were, hiking to the highest mountain in the Dominican Republic - The Pico Duarte

On my first visit to DR after I moved to Miami. June 2008 - at what used to be her house, that I assume is her mom's place nowdays.

January 2010 - This is actually our latest picture together - Here I was back in DR, at la zona colonial, and I we ended bumping into each other.