BALLY wallet

Long time ago, I was a Bally leather goods loyalist. Practically all my bags and shoes were Bally. They were nice and comfortable.

I recently bought a new wallet, Prada. I realized the practicality of having several wallets for travel purposes. A wallet for US trips, for Europe, for Asia, for Philippines.

The other day, I inventoried my old wallets with the intention to give away old ones.

I found an old looking black Bally wallet. I took out the sipit-sipit pieces of paper inside it and placed them on top of my sink counter for sorting out.

I must have used it for at least five years judging from the dates of the credit card receipts in there.

This morning, I looked at the folded sheets of paper supposedly to check if they’re all for the garbage bin, and to my surprise, this wallet tells a good story of my life’s journey.

I couldn’t believe that this wallet contained my life story.

23 years ago,

I am not the best.  I wanted to be, but the opposite happened.

Photos of Oyen, Nyke and me.

Nun pa pala I was praying na to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

News article clippings

Among the contents were credit card receipts of shopping, hotels and tickets.

My God this bra was too expensive.  I couldn’t believe I would pay this much.  In 1997 pa ha?  Grabe, Baka may kasamang dede ito.   Buti na lang I changed my mind and returned them.

The contents also showed some of my foreign travels.

The stickers were from a little souvenir store in Cologne, Germany.

The one below was from Italy.

Tickets from Empire State Building in New York, Eiffel Tower in Paris, an opera ticket in London, Canadian Airlines to Vancouver, two tram tickets to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco– on my birthday, May 27, 1992. Wow 22 years ago. Or is that really a tram ticket, 11:45 pm, close to midnight. Where did we go? I must have been with Edmund. But where did we go?

I was teaching my son how to write checks.

Old business card under American Automotive Center, the original name of Ford EDSA.

Eto talaga, wala akong maalala, Why did I go to Cebu in 1998 and paid P34,000 for my hotel stay? Parang ang laki. Ano kaya ito?

I was in the presidential entourage of Pres. Fidel V. Ramos to Canada.
From Ottawa, they were going to Winnipeg then fly to Manila. I skipped that and split from the group.
I stayed for one night in Ottawa and took a connecting flight to Chicago the next afternoon, then to San Francisco to visit my parents. It was gloomy and snowing. I took a cab to a department store near the hotel and bought my son a tiny blazer. I think this was my receipt.

I was in St. Patrick’s Square, palagay ko this was at the same presidential trip with FVR. Kasi our itinerary was Manila-SFO-Seattle (to meet with Bill Gates)-Vancouver-NY (I was a speaker at the business forum at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel grand ballroom)-Toronto (I was a speaker again at the business forum and round table discussion)-Montreal-Ottawa (signing of MOA).

Credit card payment for two nights at the President Hotel in Moscow, Russia, with FVR presidential entourage. Atty. Emil Jurado and Ambassador Filemon Cuevas (+) shared a room and they both were not able to sleep well, meron daw kasing multo dun sa kwarto nila.

TDP stood for Trade Development Publishing.

Good guys was an electronics store in Southland near my parents’ house. We loved going there to make usyoso. We bought two very big television sets and shipped them to Manila. One was the big tv in the lounge of Volvo in Ortigas Center. After it closed, I transferred it to the Mazda Makati showroom in Pasong Tamo. It’s still here but we’re no longer using it kasi medyo the picture is malabo na, sa luma nya.
The other one was brought to Ford EDSA’s showroom. Sira na rin ngayon.

Edmund’s favorite golf store 17 years ago.

The Sultan of Kuwait generously shouldered our hotel accommodations including food and drinks. This American Express card receipt must be payment for incidental expenses, Holiday Inn.

The name Claridge doesn’t ring a bell. But there’s a Mercedes Benz logo, the only thing I could think of is this could be the receipt for the down payment for my father’s car. He was celebrating his 79th birthday and was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and given a few months to live. Nakwento ko na yan several times before, gipit na gipit ako during that time but I wanted to make my father happy even for a few minutes. Pinilit ko talaga to buy him a Benz kahit I was suffering from financial difficulties. I told myself, my situation is temporary, I could recover. Pero kahit yumaman ako ng mayaman na mayaman, eh hindi ko na mabibili ng kotse ang Papa dahil patay na sya. Kaya hayun, utang again. Walang halong alinlangan, basta binili ko sya ng kotse, bahala na ang bayad. Ang importante, I made him happy and proud.

My son’s note

I found a letter from Oyen which made me cry. I felt so guilty. I must have been a neglectful mother. She was wanting for my presence and missing me a lot yet I was always coming home late at night and traveling. I really felt so bad. I wish I could turn back the time.

Nadurog ang puso ko kanina after I’ve read Oyen’s note. Naiyak ako talaga. I felt so bad. I must have disappointed her. Oh God why was I like that? I was young and trying to discover the world and myself. In so doing, I must have neglected my family. I lost precious moments with my kids.

I love you anak,  I am really sorry for all the times I spent away from you.

I made a lot of mistakes and unfortunately, I didn’t know they were mistakes. When I was younger, I thought I knew everything and that I was always right yun pala I was always wrong. I am sorry.

Thank you wallet for keeping me company in my journeys. I’ve decided I will no longer give you away. I will keep you for life.