Monday, November 17, 2008

We are in Michigan - the Sabolboros

I first came to Iligan in December of 1982. A young and feisty engineer hoping for that green pasture, I left the comforts of my home in Cebu to start life alone in a new and unfamiliar territory that would soon become my home away from home. Being part of the second batch of the Engineering Management Training program, I was hobnobbing with the other newcomers from other parts of the country. NSC became my new life.

Every now and then I would feel homesick... for my family and for my big city life. So every opportunity I had, I would brave the angry seas, trusting Don Benjamin or Dona Josefa, to get me though the night, and never in vain, at daylight, Cebu---home at last!Very soon, I made so many good friends, my overnight trips became less and less frequent and everyone called me by the nickname only my family called me by, Dang. Long nights, sweat, tears, and laughter, the two years in the EMT program was finally over and my final assignment was at the Quality Assurance Department as Process Control Engineer. More sweat, tears & laughter....

For me, the best part of NSC is meeting the person I would spend the rest of my life with. In May of 1985, I ceased to be Casilda Alcoseba. Married to Renato, a.k.a. Bong, I became Casilda Sabolboro, had three beautiful kids, Jenna (or Jas), Gem & Thaad, and built our first house in Del Carmen.Ten years in NSC, I applied for optional retirement. My last assignment was at the Information Systems Department as Programmer/Analyst. Bong continued to work another five years until he was hired to manage the Technical Support Department of Online Philippines in Makati. Then, the whole family moved to Manila.

Later, Bong found a job in Michigan, USA. We moved again... Since May of 1999, Michigan has been our home. Bong works at Ford Motor Company as a Systems Engineer in the Rawsonville Parts Plant. I work full time at home and part time in an imprinting shop doing embroidery. I also run a small home embroidery business which I have called Sew Perfect.

Jas is 22 and will soon be done with college. She is a Science major at the University of Michigan. Gem, 21, goes to the Michigan State University studying Kinesiology or Human Kinetics. Thaad, my big baby at 18, is graduating from high school. Bong is doing his masters in Engineering Management. Me? I study everyone’s movements at home and pick after them.

Every now and then I still meet with old NSC friends and have lots and lots of fun. NSC was not just a workplace, it was home and the friends we made became family. We were a big NSC family.

4 comments:

  1. love you Dang! True friend and NSCian!

    "heart", "heart", "heart",
    ema

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Dang:

    You will receive a Christmas gift from Santa for being the first one to heed the call and to post in this blog. Yeheeyyy!

    -ervin

    ReplyDelete
  3. i will wait eagerly for that gift.... unta cash :)

    ReplyDelete