I came back home to Davao City, Philippines last 2018 after two years of staying in the United States. I was excited to see my family and my dabarkads to catch up and experience the fun times we used to have when I was still staying in my hometown. 

On our way to the downtown area from the airport, my mind ran a comparison of the picture of the places where I left and how it currently looked. Yes, some landmarks are still around, like the Durian statue in the airport, the flyover in JP Laurel Avenue, and the San Pedro Cathedral. 

At the same time, so much has changed too. When before, the tallest buildings we had were Pryce Tower and LandCo Building in Bajada area, now constructions of high rises are ongoing and the small complexes where we used to hangout have been replaced by newer business centers or a different infrastructure.

Daghan na ang nabag-o sa syudad, I whispered under my breath as our car skirted the downtown main road. I felt glad when our car halted in front of our family favorite - Dencia’s in Ilustre St. Naturally, I ordered my favorite Lugaw and Tokwa’t Baboy. As I was sharing the first meal in years with my relatives, the back of my mind looked forward to getting together with my good old friends too.

The next night, I called up my friends to meet them over dinner. Kita ‘nya ta, bai, I urged them, and sure, they agreed. My friends came one by one but some didn’t show up because some of our friendships had gone estranged while I was abroad. We had dinner at Harana in Torres Street and had a few drinks at the bar alongside the resto. 

One of my close friends, let’s call him Dodong, has become an influencer. And every now and then, in the middle of conversations, someone from the crowd would come to him for a photo op. Sikata na diay ani’ng Dodong, uy. My friends joked that Dodong being sikat is such a twist of fate, and that we couldn’t help but feel a tinge of envy about his popularity. While we were still sitting there, Dodong had drifted somewhere along the crowd and had left us. 

The change of dynamics among my friends became apparent to me. I realized that they are no longer that close to each other anymore and that they came because I was around, and not because we still had that good, old friendship. 

My friends have changed. Or maybe, I have changed. Or better yet, we have changed, and the time we had spent apart from each other have made this so palpable now that we’ve seen each other again. 

We had our last round of beer at around 2 a.m., just like a few years back when I could feel that my friends are the net that I can fall back to. Only this time, I felt a bit foreign.