Charissa and Christine's Unlikely Reunion

"I can't take it," a grieving Michelle told Ella. "Christine is our best friend, and I don't want to lose her. We've been together for so long and we've resolutely faced so many trials. Remember the emotional times when we stood up for her when she's cornered?"

"Yeah, we recall that," Ella tearfully responded. "All those critical moments when we were there for her, we've always supported each other's backs. And now she sorely needs us again, because that is what best friends always do."

As Michelle and Ella hugged each other with tears falling precipitously from their eyes, my mother Charissa finally arrived on the scene.

"Michelle, Ella, how is my daughter?" Charissa asked anxiously.

Ella then explained. "She is in the emergency room right now, and we're waiting for the doctor to come out and check in on her condition."

"I hope this is unserious," Charissa thought to herself, her eyes swelling with a concerned look on her face.

Charissa's worried demeanor is in stark contrast to her confident, happy-go-lucky personality on-screen. At 47, Charissa is an experienced veteran, having worked at an international news network as a business correspondent for over two decades now.

My mother graduated with a degree of mass communications when she was 22, and shortly after that, she was hired by her current network. Accomplishing her way up from staff writer to correspondent, Charissa worked her heart out to prove she can succeed in this business.

When Charissa was 30, her network assigned her to go to Hong Kong and work there. Unfortunately, I never had a chance to bid my mother farewell. It was only the morning after when I discovered a letter on the table, and it turned out to be a farewell letter addressed to me.

Charissa wrote:

Dear Christine,

My company had informed me that I would be assigned to work in Hong Kong. I apologize if I wasn't able to say goodbye to you properly. I had to leave at the stroke of midnight in accordance to my plane ticket. I hope you accept my situation. Rest assured I'll be back home soon, but until then, we should talk on the phone long distance whenever possible. Remember to behave in school.

Sincerely yours, Charissa

Over the next 17 years Charissa and I were all but estranged from one another, her duties as a journalist overseas always getting in the way of family life. And although we sometimes get in touch on the phone and on social media, I still yearned for that one day when she comes back and reconnects with me face to face.

Just last week, I found out from my aunt Cathy that Charissa had been reassigned back to Manila by her network bosses. Upon hearing the news, I became ecstatic at the thought of reuniting with my mother again. Sure enough, Charissa finally returned home that afternoon, and was about to contact me when suddenly, it was Michelle who spoke instead.

Initially, she couldn't recognize who was speaking on the phone, but when Michelle mentioned about me Charissa decided to listen.

"This is Michelle speaking. I am your daughter Christine's best friend," Michelle cried as she reached out to Charissa. "You have to come to the hospital quick. Your daughter just fainted and we don't know what happened."

Upon hanging up the phone, Charissa felt stunned as she heard the news.

In an instant a family reunion was about to unfold in the unlikeliest of settings. Charissa's emotional homecoming couldn't have come at the most critical juncture as she arrived at the hospital to look for me.

After waiting anxiously for several minutes, the doctor finally came out to inform Michelle, Ella and Charissa what happened.

"You have nothing to worry about," the doctor explained. "Your patient Christine just passed out from a severe headache and we're hoping for a full recovery within days. She should be fine."

Michelle, Ella and Charissa felt relieved that I would be okay. After all, my headache was not as serious as it initially feared.

Early Tuesday morning, I was lying at the hospital room, still in a sedated state. Michelle, Ella and Charissa were all on my bedside sleeping.

Charissa was the first to wake up. She stroked my right hand, gently rubbed my forehead and murmured, "Christine, I was worried sick about you. I thought you were going to die. But here you are alive and well."

Charissa began crying as she continued caressing me and quietly uttered "I wish I was there for you all the time. I wish I was the best mother in the world. But I wasn't. I was too preoccupied with work as a journalist that I sometimes forget about you. I hope you can forgive me."

Charissa's emotional sounds of sorrow wakened me up from my deep sleep. Michelle and Ella also got up and found my mother crying alongside me.

Upon waking up, I spoke to Charissa with tears in my eyes about what I felt while she was away.

"Mother I missed you so much. All my life I've yearned for you to come home. All the emotional pain and distress I suffered as a kid made me feel like an emotional wreck. I found it difficult to live without you."

"I know what you feel," Charissa replied humbly. "I wish I was a faithful mother for you, but I'm not. I'm sorry if I'm not here when you dearly needed the most. Will you forgive me?"

I hesitated at first, but then Michelle and Ella stepped in and convinced me to graciously accept my mother's apology.

"Christine, it's okay," Michelle gently explained. "Charissa will always be your mother no matter what. No mother is perfect."

After a few minutes to compose myself, I nodded and accepted my mother's apology with an hug befitting of a mother and daughter. Michelle and Ella felt overjoyed by the moment and shed some tears in their eyes as Charissa and I hugged it out.

It takes tons of courage for my mother and I to mend fences and compensate for lost time. For Charissa, this was undoubtedly a perfect yet unconventional timing for her to come back home considering all the terrible things that I have been through while she was away.

Three days later, I was back home reopening my blog and in good spirits. With the flashback sequence still fresh from my memory, I decided to record some of the details I remembered from that day.

But then suddenly, I struggled to recall the rest of the events. As a result I decided to message Michelle for a little help. She inquired me if I still have my old diaries.

I looked eagerly inside my drawers to see if my private diaries were still inside, and minutes later, I found something tucked in from behind. It was undoubtedly my Grade 1 diary, dusty and slightly worn but still readable.

It was there that I found an entry in relation to me beaten, torn and left for dead after class by those bullies years ago. With that, I thanked Michelle for the assist, and I was able to complete my second blog entry for the day.

Later that evening, Charissa returned home from work, but she was not alone. Cathy had also stopped by paying me a visit, and I couldn't be more excited to see my actual and adoptive mother together in the same room.