My Reality is Better Than my Dream

I met a doctor, and we became really close as friends. His name is Doctor Mercado. He's so much older than me, and is quite famous in the Philippines. Despite our age difference, we have many common interests, including a love of travel, movies, music, and vintage fashion. I've learnt so much from him, not just about medicine, but also about life, relationships and achieving one's goals.

In one of his talks in one of the big universities in Manila, I tagged along with him with my camera. One of the famous stars was in attendance too. She's a client and a friend of the doctor, Maine Mendoza, the other half of Aldub. She shared about her own journey in the entertainment industry, inspiring many students with her story of perseverance.

After the talk, students took turns for photo ops with the two. Maine liked to have a photo taken with me and the doctor before we parted ways for the day, so I asked one student to take photos of us using my camera. 

I remembered the face of the male student vividly, but he vanished from the bunch of students who remained with the others. He simply disappeared with my camera.

Oh! The horror!

Everyone left but me. I looked for my camera all over the campus. It was getting dark already, and the place was calmly getting deserted. That's just the polar opposite of how I was feeling inside, I was frantically panicking. I can't lose my camera. Aside from it being a Leica, the memory card was close to full of memories I took on our trips to Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia; California; and Arizona.

I was mad at myself for being too trusting. I held that camera with extreme care for eight years. It was a gift from the mister. The campus was so dark already, and I slowly walked towards the guardhouse when the light turned on in front of me.

I opened my eyes. I saw the mister opening the curtain to let the light come into the room. It's past noon, and I am still in bed. I don't know how long he spent his time on the trail, but the mister is back from biking.

Phew! It was just a dream!



"Jay, nawa akong camera sa akong damgo!" (I lost my camera in my dream.), I told him immediately.

The mister is used to hearing the weird, enjoyable, and colorful stories from my dreams. Then he asked me, "Ganahan ka ug kape?" (You want coffee?)

The mister bought a half dozen of freshly made Duck Donuts too.


The donut sprinkled with bacon bits got me excited.

*sigh! I am just glad that losing my camera was just a dream, and I am happier to wake up with coffee and donuts. I donut remember the last time I had one.

P.S. I slept so late last night watching Project Runway All Stars and Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry. Since religiously following a schedule of at least seven to nine hours of sleep every night for over three years, I guess sleeping so late was probably a result of that dream. hehehe.

By the way, I don't know a Doctor Mercado, and I don't follow Aldub, but I saw a photo of Maine in one of the Filipino news magazines online before I went to sleep. I did not read the article about her ,though.