Goodbye James...

The first time I saw the Tomorrow Never Dies poster in a decrepit hall of Ever Gotesco Kalookan, I just knew it was to die for. The following week I was scouring the streets of Manila in the dizzying heat looking for a video shop that by some stroke of luck would be selling that poster.

I had one eventually. Two long months after the Bond movie was shown.

When I came down to Mindanao for my 3-year sojourn, a roll of that “Tomorrow Never Dies” poster came along with my 20-kg baggage.

And ever since, in every chapter of my journey, that poster has always been with me, taped on the cold walls of my bedroom.

From the teachers’ cottage in Kalsangi to the engineer’s quarters in Cannery housing to the cramped bed space in lungga to the 4-th floor apartment in Sucat to the 2-bedroom unit in Antipolo and finally to my bungalow in Sucat.

It had always kept me company through the crests and troughs of my life. Somehow those piercing eyes of Pierce watched faithfully how I grappled with my daily mission. Sometimes a mission gets botched. Other times I save the day. And in all those it stood a silent witness, a loyal comrade.

As fate would have it…I once again had to leave my house in Sucat ….just when I was about to call it home.

When the packing was done I was amazed at how my 20-kg baggage has grown to gigantic proportions…tons of memories I have amassed over the years…

And my 10-yr old poster was still there.. torn and tattered through years of taping and re-taping.

When the time came for me to remove it from the wall, somehow it told me it finally wanted to stay.. Peeling it again would further aggravate whatever damage it has gone through all these years.. Maybe I have held on to it more than what was needed.

I wish I could still post it on my new bedroom. I wish it could be with me on my future missions.

But somehow those probing eyes of James Bond this time was giving me a new mission . …To finally let go.