Company

I was on my way home from an ice cream shop when it dawned on me how lonely—to a degree, even depressing—dinner time has become. While the dessert (a scoop of blueberry cheesecake ice cream) and the meal I had before that (embutido, egg, and fried rice) were heavenly, something was starkly missing: the joy of having friends around the dinner table.

In undergrad, I used to eat with friends from the dorm. We'd wait for each other in the lobby at 6:30 to 7pm; if someone didn't show up, we'd text the missing person with instructions on where we'd be. Usually we'd go to Lola Lita's, the second store to the entrance of the Shopping Center, because the food was just delicious, as if it came straight from our home kitchen.



Later on, that dinner gang was slowly dissolved. We all had our own things-to-do. I had to work overtime to finish my thesis. Others had classes. Some had already graduated. Eating together was becoming the exception rather than the rule, and I found myself eating alone with no one to pray for the meals with, no one to tell stories of how my day went. It was a sad, sad feeling, so much so that I would drag my roommate (who had eaten hours ago) to accompany me.

Now I'd like to think I'm past that stage. I no longer look for friends to eat with. I understand that everyone is busy. Sometimes I just laugh at the fact that I've lost count of how many times I've been spotted eating alone by people I know. In an ice cream shop. In McDonald's. In the mall.

But I can't help but wish that things were different. Dinner, then, would be so much fun. Iba pa rin kasi talaga kung may kasalo ka.