The Bonfire, the singing and...the fall, ugh!

 

    I left Loma Linda a little past noon of August 26, 2011 gearing for a long drive.  At 2:15 pm, I stopped in front of Mommy Rebing Galope and Manong Ananaias' place along Robertson Blvd in downtown LA. They were already waiting for me. It took just a few minutes to put their belongings into the trunk of my car and off we went.

     It was a Friday and traffic was quite heavy along Highway 101. As I drove on this familiar route, memories flooded back in my mind. I have been traversing this route countless times when I was teaching in Oxnard and spending my weekends in Loma Linda. That was long time ago. After nine years, our church's camping in Lake Casitas gave me more than enough reason to traverse this strip of highway again.

     We arrived at around 5 PM at the entrance of the Recreation Area. The Osprey campground where we were assigned is situated at an elevated area along the northern shore giving us a spectacular view of the lake around 500 feet below. We were the second group to arrive. The first to arrive at around 3 PM was John Shue and Christina Brown,  Liza's friends who drove all the way from the San Francisco Bay area. In a few minutes, Brian, the musician, arrived with the the Amoras: Rudy, Glady and Joy.

     While Mommy Rebing prepared our dinner, we set up our tents. I had brought with me a new tent good for 4 persons but since I decided to sleep in my car, I gave my tent to Brian. Later on, Keni, Robert and Dan would join Brian in that tent throughout the duration of the camping. Since we were still very few, we held our vesper service around a table and dinner followed.

      An hour later, Dan Belding called me asking for direction. They have already entered the Recreation Area but could not locate our exact position. Together with Dan in his vehicle were: Elder Bobby Gevera, Robert, Keni and Junjun. Liza and  Farid, with their dog Wrinkle, arrived next followed by Pastor Ace. Dan was requested by Bobby to return to LA to fetch Sister Elsie, Keni, and Robert. They were able to arrive at the camp before the 10:00 PM closing time.

    Sabbath morning, we had our sunrise worship at a designated place with Elder Bobby as the devotional speaker. More campers arrived early morning. Pastor Ace's daughter together with 2 cousins of Liza arrived in a white Toyota Corolla. Pastor Ace drove back to Camarillo early morning to pick up his parents. Aileen and Aldrin arrived in a blue Mustang. Melody and her 4-year old daughter, Ela arrived, too, in a red car .

    During the Sabbath School, John Shue shared a mission story and I moderated the lesson discussion about true worship. The divine service speaker was Pastor Ace. Brian, the Amoras, Aileen and Aldrin and the young ladies took turns giving the special songs.

    It was very heartwarming and so inspiring worshiping God in the midst of His vast creation. While singing or listening messages, we could not help but gaze on the serene lake below disturbed only by occasional boaters cruising every now then. A couple of model airplanes in attractive colors displayed their acrobatic prowess, rising high in spiral path and diving so low that they almost touch the water and still managed to land safely in their miniature runway complete with white lines and markings just beside the lake.

     In the afternoon, the Santa Ana winds started blowing non-stop. The model airplanes returned to their miniature hangars and the birds took their place, gliding effortlessly above the lake powered by the warm winds but ready to swoop down when a fish was spotted.

    Our youth program led by Liza consisted of singing, Bible games and a group dynamics titled The Life Saving Station which I introduced. Treasure hunting was originally planned but was scrapped because of the ferocious wind. During the sundown devotional, I talked about the earth, moon, planets, solar system, galaxies and the great God who created all these.

    After dinner, we started gathering around a bonfire. Brian started singing the familiar country songs mostly by John Denver. He even accepted special requests that I dubbed him The Non-stop Country Station. All the while, I was moving around taking photos experimenting with low light from the bonfire and in combination with the flash. Then it happened.

     I was going to the other side when my right foot stepped upon nothing. My left knee suddenly bearing my entire weight twisted as my left foot reluctantly followed my right foot. My left hand was still holding my camera while my right hand tried to grab on to something solid to hold on. There was nothing solid but thorny thickets.

     I was still in a state of shock when I realized I stopped falling and all around me was darkness. I heard a commotion of voices above me and I heard my name being called a number of times. I tried to stand only to realize that my two feet have nothing to stand on and I slid again into a seemingly bottomless pit. That was when I realized that I fell in the ravine toward the lake some 500 feet below. I could feel the loose gravel grinding at my back and the thorny thickets brushing on my right arm while the voices above me were receding. Then suddenly my sliding stopped again. But I learned my lesson and I laid still. I know that the moment I started moving I would slide down further.

     When everything seemed to stand still, I realized that the darkness was gone. A number of flashlights were pointed in my direction but still I dared not to look down what's below me. I was afraid that if I turn my head downward, I would start rolling down. Then they called me if I was not hurt. I answered that I am okay. I told them that if someone can take the camera from my left hand and they could throw me a rope, I can use both my hands to raise myself up using the rope. They told me to lay still because they were calling for help. Then I heard Farid telling me that he was coming down toward me.

    When Farid came within arm's distance, I gave him my camera and he slid a little further below perhaps positioning himself to catch me if I slid down further. I asked him what is below us and he told me that a rock surface was protruding slightly and there's a big shrub on the side and that was where he anchored himself.

     The paramedics and the fire engine Rescue 22 from the Ventura County Fire Department arrived. A firefighter whose name I would know later as Shanon climbed down to my location to visually assess my situation whether I was hurt. He asked me several questions testing my coherence and alertness. I told him that there were some bruises in my arms because of the thorny thickets and the loose gravel and I felt some cramps on my left knee probably because of non-movement. Then he helped me stand on my feet on a 75 degree incline with loose gravel. He asked me to move my arms and knees, shift my weight from left leg to right leg and vice versa, wiggle my toes.

     Another firefighter climbed down, and a harness was lowered. The two firefighters helped strap the harness around me, the harness was then attached to a rope and I climbed as the rope was pulled up. Farid was also thrown a rope and he climbed after me. After I reached the top, another paramedic attended to me, examining different parts of my body and offered to bring me to the hospital for test and observation which I graciously declined.

     It took me a while to realize after the paramedics left that my left knee was sprained and I mistook the pain as cramps. Mommy Rebing and Manong Ananaias took out their muscle rub and massaged my knee while applying the ointment liberally. That night, I slept very little in my car probably because my body was still awash with adrenalin. In the morning, the pain in my knee was getting intense that I could hardly get out of the car. I had to keep it moving sideward where it did not hurt to keep the blood circulating and very gradually I got out of the car to join the morning worship where we thanked the Lord that in spite of the scary happening the night before, the Lord did not forsake His children.

     After breakfast, we broke camp. We were ready to leave behind the scenic place that became our home for two days. The shared experiences, the communion with God amidst nature, the songs, the laughter and the camaraderie, the mental images of the serene lake, the birds and the model airplanes, including my scary fall into the dark ravine will forever be part of our collective memory.

A Day With Joy

 

April 2001. It was a perfect combination. She has a driver’s license and a car but could not drive. Being new in California, I don’t have a California license but I can drive. What I have is a temporary permit to drive but only when accompanied by a person with a valid license. I have only a vague idea of some of the places we were to visit and don’t know one street from another. She has memorized the geography of Loma Linda and nearby cities. That’s how we got teamed up last Sunday for a day’s gallivanting and doing the errands she could not do alone.

I met Mercy Joy Corpuz way back in the early 80s at the Solijons’ residence more popularly known as 737 Constancia in Sampaloc. That place was then a regular hangout of people like Godfrey Calleja, Roger Saldia, Girlie Flores, myself and others. In fact Girlie eventually found her Romeo among those Alvin Patrimonio wannabes playing basketball in that vacant lot across the street. They are now residing in Mountain View College in Bukidnon with their two healthy boys. Girlie is teaching music while Jun works in the general maintenance section.

Joy has the height and bearing of a beauty contestant and Joandel  calls her Joy Tangkad to differentiate her from another Constancia habitué, Joy Gamponia, who is now residing in Seattle. At the time we first met, she was a fresh Journalism graduate from UP Diliman and was teaching at UP Los Baños. A typical UP student during the Martial Law years, Joy was an avid anti-Marcos activist in the same category with Joe Oclarit.

Her teaching stint in Los Baños was cut short when she went to Loma Linda University to pursue a master’s degree in Public Health. After obtaining her MPH degree she was hired by our denomination and was sent to Nicaragua as ADRA representative. She was only 6 months into her work in that country when she met an accident that changed her life forever. The car she was driving rammed into a huge military truck, whose fault it was, she could not remember now. She was in coma for 3 months. She stayed in a Nicaraguan hospital for one month until her condition stabilized before she was airlifted to Loma Linda Medical Center for treatment of severe brain injury.

Today she is blind in one eye, her speech a little bit slurry and walks with a limp. After a series of occupational therapy, her short-term memory is still poor but her long-term memory is returning. She has regained her wit and sense of humor. Her right arm still lacks full coordination but she can now do light chores like cooking and operating the washing machine. When working with her computer she uses her left hand to hold the mouse.

She was a gracious guide reminding me constantly of the traffic rules and signs that we conveniently disregard in the Philippines. She was a good navigator too except that I have to double check her directions because once in a while she got confused and would tell me to turn right or left when she meant exactly the opposite. Admittedly we made a couple of wrong turns.

We went to a gas station to refuel, to CompUSA to buy ink for her printer and to Cosco to buy some juice. Then we went to Loma Linda Medical Center and she toured me around. On the sixth floor, she proudly showed me the room which became her home for more than 2 months. It was one of a dozen or so rooms arranged in a circular fashion with the nursing station located at the center.

On our way to a Filipino fast-food restaurant named Manileño for a late lunch, we saw Dr. Levi Pagunsan driving a car with his wife Tess. He was pleasantly surprised to see me. We exchanged hellos and had a short conversation but he has to drive on because he was obstructing the traffic. It was a vegetarian lunch. I ordered halo-halo for dessert.