Ever since I was in high school my friends had always called me cynical.  And I totally agree: I am cynical.  I can’t do anything about it now; it’s just how I was raised.  The main lesson is to always be careful.  Always be alert because at this day and age there’s hardly anybody in this world that one can trust completely.

So with this line of thinking you can imagine my surprise when earlier today when somebody offered to give me a ride.  No, it’s nothing perverted.  I was on my way to UST Hospital to submit a picture and was walking towards the tricycle station outside of our village when suddenly this neighbor of ours, with his wife and kid, just offered to give me a ride to the town plaza.

It was a total shock because I didn’t know them.  I didn’t know anything about their family except for the facts that they live three houses from us and they own this red old-type Volkswagen.  Oh, and I knew that they had kids; I always saw them running around outside.

This shocked me because my parents don’t usually offer rides to anybody in the village.  I guess it’s because of their tight schedules and all but somehow, unfortunately, that bad habit has been imbued to me, their kid.  As a rule we only offer rides to people we know and/or the elderly who’re walking a long way from the village gate.

Not to say that my family and me are these evil pricks or anything.  I mean, I’m all for the nice gesture and everything, but this particular one was so random and so out of the blue that it just caught me off guard.  I cannot stress on this enough, because it is mostly the basic cause of my surprise that this happened: I didn’t know them.  I haven’t talked, waved or even acknowledged the fact that they existed, ever. 

And then they started speaking to me (of course they would; I was a guest in their car, doi) I actually found it very easy to relate to them.  I’m actually surprised that they knew who I was; I mean, not in name, but they knew where our house was, and who my parents were.  I’m sorry that this sounds weird, but they’re the newest people I’ve met in over a year now so my social skills are a bit on the rusty side. 

Considering I only had about seven minutes of chatter time with them I’d have to say that I did pretty well.  I guess it helps that they’re a young couple; I guess at most they’d have been a decade older than I am right now.  They sounded nice.  They sounded cool.  And apparently we have quite a few things in common.

I’m actually looking forward to chatting with them again; it’s the first time I’m acquainted with a married couple that’re technically still very young.  I mean, I know people who’re married but they always treat me as Tito’s and Tita’s youngest daughter, and not just Girlie. 

I’m sure it’ll be an experience.  As Giselle from Enchanted once said, it’s always nice to make new friends.