She walks casually inside the training room. She's been coming and going in the same room for a couple of years. Her confidence never wears out- she looks imposing with her body upright, her chin up, her eyes cast straight as she approaches and whispers something to the speaker. Her presence is felt without trying.
For someone new in the Institute, curiosity will lead you to this intriguing lady who stares from head to toe when in the corridor and echoes a laughter from her office for everyone to hear.
She-who-will-be-named-later heads one of the training sections of the Foreign Service Institute. She can be real deceiving with her testy and intimidating looks. She hardly smiles to those she has no business with and by this, you can expect that she won't initiate a conversation unless she finds you equally interesting.
Her “aristocratic” breed reflects the type of family she comes from. She belongs to one of the authentic hacienderos in her province, Aklan, whose political clout expands as wide as the vast lands they own. Their family has gained patronage for generations and with it, she can readily carry on the reign with the support and trust of their constituents. But she has got other plans. She opted to live a simpler life without forgetting the people who have drawn her parents to public service. She left her comfortable life in exchange of independence and discovery of herself.
And find herself she did- not as the protected daughter but as her own resilient and decisive woman who stands by her word and earns respect by being who she is. She is one inspiring, extraordinary person- polished by time, by circumstances and by decisions willfully made. When there were battles she lost, she did not wallow in regrets but instead she did rise up and put on her armour back to face her battles anew.
For years, she was out by herself in Manila and way off alone. Thus, her homecomings were always in great anticipation to visit her roots of comfortable living. While she may have learned to fly high independently, it is through her parents that she mustered enough confidence to start flapping her wings on altitude so when fate claimed her parents' life separately, in a span of two months, her wall of strength gave in to moments of grieving solitude.
On her own, she had to regain herself for her loved ones who depended on her strength. But close to a year now, she has yet to be over mourning for the loss of her parents who gave her unconditional love. She may perhaps have wanted it this way- to hold them dear and keep them somehow close to her wherever they are.
She who is elegantly named Amarie has the adventure of weaving lives into an exquisitely fine quilt of love, laughter, pain and discoveries. Her wisdom and nurturing heart earned her the “mother” title to her junior colleagues and her in-control-of-things stance tickled the imagination of friends and cadets to dub her as “dyosa.”
She may sometimes be misunderstood for her inexplicable silence when she's in a pensive mood and seeming distance and passiveness when engrossed in a task. What you have to wait and see is her fullness of life for that will be the day when you will never stop loving her.
