In Memoriam

In Memory of My Trusty Light-weight Umbrella
September 20, 2003 - August 17, 2004 (MIA)

For every ending, there is a beginning. A spark that got the whole ball rolling.

Memories

I loved this umbrella. For one thing, it had the number one feature I wanted that all my other umbrellas before didn't have. It was lightweight. If I put it in my bag, it's like I wasn't carrying anything else. My shoulders didn't have to ache from carrying my shoulder bag too long, and nobody kept bugging me, "ano bang nilalagay mo dyan sa bag mo, ba't ang bigat?"


Beginnings

How I came to buy the umbrella is another story in itself. B. and I were touring Sentosa Island, Singapore then, and a sudden heavy downpour was making it impossible for us to get around the island. We only had one day, and of course, we wanted to see everything there was to see. We rushed into the nearest souvenir shop, and people were snapping up the umbrellas and raincoats! The raincoats were the cheapest. Made of entirely clear plastic, it was just an ordinary thin plastic made into a raincoat and meant to be used just once. The other options were a big wooden-handled umbrella (quite heavy), and this foldable (aluminum?) umbrella. The foldable umbrella was unfortunately the most expensive one. But at the same time, it was exactly what I wanted in an umbrella! I was meaning to buy one even before that trip, but I just never found an umbrella this lightweight in the malls. I really liked the umbrella, but I didn't like the "tourist" price. In the end, since (a) we were tourists anyway and (b) we really needed something since it was raining hard and (c) the umbrella was the most cost-efficient option, we bought the foldable umbrella.

Back in Manila, I still kept the search for the lightweight foldable umbrella open. A friend had one that was really lightweight, but she bought it in some high-end store, and really, unless I was a tourist and stuck in the middle of a torrential downpour, I would feel really bad spending that much money for an umbrella.

I guess I was driving my boyfriend nuts that time, always checking out the department stores and not really buying anything. So he suggested I use the Singapore umbrella. To which I promptly balked. What? I didn't want to use it since it was (a) relatively not cheap, (b) I might ruin it and cry and (c) it had sentimental value. But then again, as they say, what good is having the best crystals if you just keep it on display in the glass cabinet, right? Things are meant to be used, not stored and forgotten in some mysterious place. So I ended up using it.

And eventually losing it.

Endings

One rainy day, the day right after I recovered from a high fever, I left my umbrella in the corner to dry. It was a busy day, and as I left the office, I forgot that I left my umbrella just sitting there on the damn floor. I only remembered that my umbrella was missing when I was cleaning up my backpack on Thursday. That was two days later. There it was, the umbrella case was innocently lying inside my messy backpack, but where in the world was my umbrella? I asked the guards at the office, and my officemates, but no one had seen it. It was gone. Pffffttt. Kaput. Abracadabra-like-magic-gone.

(On a paranoidal sidenote, I am realizing why I am beginning to hate my office. I keep losing things. I lose my laptop. I lose my umbrella. What next? My sanity? My sense of well being? Why me? Are there goblins and trolls around?)


Moving On

And so I will always remember that umbrella fondly. It wasn't "just" an umbrella. Because of its origins, and its character, that umbrella will always have a soft spot in my heart. The umbrella may be gone, but everything associated with it, will remain with me.

Goodbye. And may you give your new owner (well, it couldn't really have miraculously disappeared) the same joy and satisfaction you have given me.

Puff the Magic Dragon.
In front of the place where we bought the umbrella

Note: Special thanks to hello.com for posting the pictures to this blog.