Sealed By Fate

Aida and I at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, CA

Who would have thought that after 42 years, my childhood sweetheart Aida, and I would meet once again. Thanks to Facebook and a mutual friend.  After that, we spent time together either chatting on Facebook and Skype, or just merely whispering sweet nothings on the phone on a daily basis.

Aida was alone with her cat, Stitch in her condo that night of August 2011 when Hurricane Irene struck Maryland and the whole Eastern Seaboard. I called her earlier than usual to check up on her, and to lessen her worries. We sang praises to God and recited verses from the Bible, especially Psalm 91.

1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.(a) 2I will say (b) of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”3Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—10then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Footnotes:

a 1 Hebrew Shaddai

b 2 Or He says

I stayed with Aida on the phone from 8:00 PM until break of dawn…that’s when Hurricane Irene started to subside. After that fateful night, we realized that we became closer with each other, although we were approximately 2,750 miles apart. Our love for each other became stronger, as if we were bonded and sealed together that no external forces, may it be natural disasters or man-made can take us apart.

Aida @ SFO Int'l. Airport on Sept. 10, 2011

Aida already made a flight reservation to come and see me on my birthday, twelve more days following that disastrous event. We were so anxious to see each other that we became worried every time we hear of a bad weather forecast. We prayed and kept our fingers crossed that our forthcoming rendezvous be a pleasant one. Finally, on September 10th  last year, our lips sealed every loving words that supposedly to come out from our hearts forty-three years after our first innocent kiss. Back then we loved each other with a love incomparable with any other love, for we had loved each other long before we knew the real meaning of love.

I wrote a poem entitled, “A September To Remember” to commemorate that memorable event, and more poems were written after that, celebrating our love for each other. Honestly, I have never written a poem in my life until now that I found my first and true love, Aida, whom I later called “Adelaide” in my poems. I guess if you write from the heart, nothing could go wrong, so they say.

After we met, our lives were never been the same.