A Rabbi in Hawaii

By Raoul Pascual

Raoul’s Two Cents: October 4, 2024

My Forever Friends

At the end of this month I will be heading to North Carolina for a college reunion. It’ll be an epic occasion … something I’ve dreamed of for ages. Allow me to share the people who shaped my young adult life.

My college years formed a friendship bubble filled with young adult adventures in the Washington DC area. It was a time when the Vietnamese refugees from the war started their new life in America. The World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) were hiring immigrants from all over the world. One of those immigrants was my Tita Dolly who invited me to live with her. I consider her my US mom to whom I will be forever grateful.

It was the bell-bottomed disco era of John Travolta. Home computers were about to explode. Gerald Ford just conceded his throne to Jimmy Carter. International students clumped together with fellow strangers. Affirmative action began to fill the universities with African Americans. I partied with Filipinos, Singaporeans, Vietnamese, Egyptians, Israelites, Iranians, Mexicans, White and Black Americans. Many were children of ambassadors and politicians. Central among the rainbow of ethnicities were my closest friends who formed a troubadour band called Kalesa (which means a Filipino horse and buggy).

My Tita Dolly’s house was ground zero for all our activities. In fact, that was where Kalesa was born. Almost every weekend we’d find an excuse to hold a party at that house in Arlington VA. I had always dreamed that one day I would own that house. My heart was crushed when she sold it recently.

I had just arrived stateside and was terribly homesick and needed friends. My cousins, who also lived with me at that house, invited their friends over so I could meet them.

“You should meet Rodney, he plays the guitar like you. He even composes. And you should meet Bernie. He’s got an amazing voice like David Gates of the Bread. Manny also plays the guitar like Paul Simon.”

Saturday night, people poured in and partied. But in the basement, Rodney, Manny, Bernie and I were jamming with our nylon guitars. Something magical happened. We actually sounded good. The 4 of us would become the magnet of the group and many others latched on for the ride.

Weeks and months went by and we practiced after school and we added more songs to our repertoire. There was no formal plan to turn the group into a band, it just happened. Tito Julio had a birthday party where we had our first formal performance. It was an amazing night of affirmation to know we could really entertain a crowd. Later we sang Christmas carols to raise money for poor Catholic churches. We sang for weddings and birthday parties. We were the main event for a concert fund raiser and even an opening act for a Battle of the Bands at the George Washington University. The band never really made serious money. Money was never the intention. We just enjoyed each other’s company.

We were wholesome kids with devilish testosterones. We talked about girls a lot. I can’t say we were womanizers but we did have some fans. Sure we smoked and drank beer but we never got into drugs. Rodney was studying for law school. Manny was preparing for med school. Bernie, Bob and Santi became engineers. JB became the head of computer technology for the military. I was studying Advertising Art hoping to join an Ad firm on Madison Avenue. My claim to international fame was designing the millennial logo for the GRAMMY awards.

I vividly remember a night at the La Pattiserie (a favorite French restaurant in Georgetown). Half drunk but in serious conversation and conscious of the temporary friendship bubble we were in, we knew that bubble was about to pop because of our different career paths. We were growing up and starting our rainbow of life. Raising our beer cans, we gave a toast to be friends forever. These guys were closer than my blood brothers and I was willing to give up my life to save any of them.

Through the happy and sad pages of the calendar and despite separation by states and by countries, we remained in touch. To the credit of our spouses, they understood our golden bond and have always been supportive of our rare and brief reunions.

Today, standing at the end of that rainbow I remember Rodney, Bob, Annie and Loree who have gone ahead of us. What’s left of Kalesa will be camped at Dr. Manny’s North Carolina mansion this October. We plan to record some songs. Why? Does it matter why? We just know we need to do it while we still can.

I’m sure you have your own eternal friends. What a blessing, huh? I’m sure your stories are even more interesting than mine. I’d love to hear them. When our earthly adventures are over, I truly believe we will have eternity to exchange our experiences. How cool is that? Heaven isn’t a silly place where we flutter our wings and strum our harps. It’s so much more and wonderful beyond imagination. When you get there, be sure to look me up. We’ll have so much fun.

I praise God who has been especially kind to me to provide my eternal friends. Let me end with Rodney’s composition about friendship which he sang when he first met me:

I’M LIKE YOU
Have you ever felt like telling stories
Someone told before?
Have you ever built sandcastles
That washed out on the shore?
Have you ever felt like singing songs
People sing no more?
I’m like you. I’m like you.

Have you ever felt like trying
Someone told you not to try?
Have you ever felt like cussing
But could only blow a sigh?
Have you ever felt the answer
Was too high in the sky?
I’m like you. I’m like you.

CHORUS
I need a place to plant my feet,
A place to stand, a place to be!
I have to go, to see, to know!
I have to be set free!

Have you ever seen the mountain
And wished that you were there?
Have you ever tried to reach someone
Who simply wasn’t there?
Have you ever feared
That if you loved,
The one you loved won’t care?
I’m like you. I’m like you.

Have you ever felt that sorrow
Was a way to make you strong
To come back here tomorrow
Just to sing a sadder song?
Have you ever felt you were all alone?
Well, now you know you’re wrong,
For I’m like you. I’m like you.

TGIF people!

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.” — Kahil Gibran

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.” — William Butler Yeats

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” — Hebrews 10: 24-25

“Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” — 1 Samuel 20:42