Sweet Adventure
Filed Under (Stories) by maripipi on 10-03-2010
I came to the US two years after graduating from nursing in 1964. We were under the Exchange Visitor Program, and had a two year contract after which we were to return to the Philippines to apply what we learned. In my second year, five months before I finished my contract, I met a man in the hospital coffee shop who came at the same time as we Filipino nurses had our break. He was always alone, while we were a bunch of loud foreigners.
Click to enlarge the pictures.
One day he came to our table and introduced himself. He was the credit manager of the hospital. He welcomed us and left. We went to our assignments after the one week orientation. I was assigned the evening shift in a heavy medical surgical floor.
Not long after I reported for work, I was told that the patient in room 336 was a VIP. I made my rounds. I peeped through the door and found the patient sleeping. He looked familiar so I went to his chart and came to know him better. He was diagnosed with Pneumonia. At 8:00 I woke him up for his Penicillin shot. From then on he started to be friendly with me. I invited him to our Filipino dances, parties, picnics, birthdays and other girlie girl activities. He enjoyed our company. After knowing him for five months my time was up and I had to go back home. He drove me to the airport and as I peeped through the plane window, I saw him crying and the pilot comforting him. I went back to work in Manila. He wrote often and finally came to Maripipi to tell my parents about his intentions. We got married in the little chapel where I was baptized. For our honeymoon he brought me all over Asia. He brought me back to the US and we had four sons. Although we came from two different cultures we were happy together. He is dead now and all that is left with me are the memories of him.
