I Am Tiramisu

Tito Boy. Better known by his full name Boy Roble. Absolutely not related to us in any way but still a very important and significant part of my family. Everyone's family actually. His family owns a (picture) studio. He had been photographing my parents for as far back as when my mother was still pregnant with me. Now that's a long long time ago. Hahahaha! Tito Boy did all my birthdays since the first till thirteenth! I sat in his studio for my pre-school, elementary and high school yearbook photo! He was ever a great presence in all my piano and ballet recitals!
If you are from Ormoc, you can still hear his signature low voice seconds before clicking that camera..."one, two, three...smile". Hehehehe. He used to ride his bicycle to his photoshoots with the camera bag slung on his body.. He always had that ready smile. He and papa had photography as common interest.
Months ago, his nephew emailed me, saying I contacted him thru a social networking website. Hmmm... I didnt remember doing that. But just the same we touched base and were just all too happy to have been able to "meet" (on the net) again. He used to deliver our prints to our house. I was in elementary. I was sad to hear that his tito Boy's studio wouldnt stay open for long coz nobody else in the family is into photography anymore. It would be too sad to close the studio down. We still need studios these days!!! The warmth of it. It's personality. The meaning of Roble's Studio. You think watermarking with Photoshop is a new thing? Noooo! You can see Roble's Studio etched in every one of them graduation photos from years years back!!! What we do with Photoshop now, he did perfectly by hand since the beginning of time! ...hmmm I can still remember his mother taking my photo!!!
Imagine my surprise and extreme delight when I found him standing in our school gym last weekend! He was a golden jubilarian! I was a silver jubilarian!! I practically screamed out his name when I saw him!!! ...And so our conversation reached the closing of the studio soon topic. Ahay...
I sought him out during the mass to take a pic of them. That's him, up there!!! On the right. That's me, on the left, an hour before I went to our school. That's my room by the way. Old dresser. It was an honor to have been able to take a picture of the Boy Roble. Hahahahaha!!!
...and what do I find out? That his daughter and I have the same birthdates! Yeheeey! Not quite. Instead of being with his daughter, he always went off to MY birthday parties to be the official photographer! Every year. For thirteen years. I cannot imagine how the daughter must have felt. I heard... really really bad. I found her yesterday. All the while she worked in the same office with one of my bestfriends. I emailed her. Telling how very sorry I was those past years, taking away her father from her birthday. Drama? No, I owed her that much too. Like, really really. Yeheeey again. Peace. Hahahaha!
Minutes later after our exchange of emails, our common girlfriend texts me that the daughter has just ordered a dslr for herself so she can into photography!!!
...oh my. I hope...I pray...this means that Roble Studio remains open for a long long time.
Thank you Boss.
I know YOU did that.