a slice of drama

before dulce started belting out that old familiar ballad for charo santos' tribute to the country's love for melodrama, MMK (maalaala mo kaya), there was... lovingly yours, helen (LY,H).

for those of you who cannot relate, LY,H was practically THE show to watch back in the 80's if you were the type who had nothing better to do on a late sunday afternoon. right after the ultra cheesy cabaret-esque GMA supershow, almost like a salve to sooth away the trauma of seeing german moreno outshine the stars with his sequin studded ensemble, comes the mellow person of helen vela. almost like floating in her own little bubble of calm and serenity, her show was like visual yoga. with her iconic white rose somewhere in the screen (that was sooo long ago, my memory is kinda blurry already, or was it our TV back then? or maybe both?), she narrates the letters of viewers, whom so ever eloquently write in to tell of their life stories and while the show seamlessly switches from her and the letter's dramatization. at every shows end, in true yogi manner, she offers her enlightened advice. heart felt, wisdom laden yet surprisingly vague. advice that i am sure can be both applicable when either making life choices or deciding which pair of jeans to buy whenever ZARA goes on sale (me, i'd buy them all!!)

sadly, the show went off the air eons ago, and not soon after that, helen also went "off the air", succumbing to cancer while in treatment the US.

****

"do you think i'm too ma-drama?"

"um....."*

"yes or no!?"

"i think you have every right to feel the way you feel. it was still a good part of your life that you lost so it's really understandable for you to feel depressed about it."

"but that was 9 months ago and i still can't move on."

"i think you need to be honest with yourself. just feel what you need to feel. cry if you have to. get mad if you have to. just get it done and be done with it. seriously, it such a waste of energy to wallow."

"yeah, i guess your right."

"i mean, so what if the relationship failed. so what if u finally realized your ex was an ass. so what!? take courage to hurt now. then, stand back up, dust yourself a bit and move on. no point really to feel sad anymore. it's all in the past already, what more can you do?"

"but i can't seem to get over the fact that things went wrong."

"but things really do go wrong. and as if you didn't try to fix things. you did. but it failed. not because you failed, but he didn't want the fixing."

"so what do i do now?"

"move on. really, don't you think you have given enough of yourself to this person? i mean, give yourself a break! where is your sense of self value? you need to take back control of you life and your happiness. he's gone, thank god. he already took so much of you with him, you think it's fair that you're still giving him yourself after he ended things with you? do you really want to end up like an old bitter fag for another old bitter fag hag?"

"hahahahaha, no. i guess not."

"good. 'coz old and bitter can be sooooo un-fabulous! :)"

"thanks for giving me hope, so sorry to keep barraging you with my complaints."

"all in a days work of a friend. always a pleasure to help."


*italicized text best read out loud while sporting an indian accent. no offense to indians or those who love their accents. la-lang.