Postcard Friendship Friday, the eighth wonder of the world, and a new attorney

In January 2009, Marie Reed began hosting Postcard Friendship Friday at her blog, Cpaphil Vintage Postcards. Here's the premise in her words:

I would be thrilled if you joined us! There are no rules:) Anything goes! Please be silly and creative with this postal theme. Examples include: any type of postcard, a photo of a mailbox, mailman, a stamp image, postcard altered art, or simply a photo of something that you find 'Postcard Perfect' etc etc etc!

After you've posted for PFF come drop by this blog to share your link. A Mr. Linky widget will be in place every Friday! Mr.Linky makes it easier for me to find your blog so that I can be a comment queen! Happy PFF!



I've been signing in at Mr. Linky while noting that postcards at my blog appear mid-week for Old Postcard Wednesday. This week, however, I am actually joining the PFF community on Friday (!) with this beautiful postcard from a special person honoring him for a noteworthy achievement.......

published on back: BANAUE, Batad Village, Philippines
Imposing landscape of centuries-old Banaue Rice Terraces overlooking Batad Village and considered as the eighth wonder of the world.

I have written in prior posts about Dex, whose blog Thirty Thousand Fishes can be mysterious, brave, contemporary, poetic, and reflective because he himself is all those things and more.

At the end of this long post I explained how our blogging friendship evolved into a mother-son relationship with an importance to me that I am still unable to express here. And for a photo of Dex along with some background on his dreams following law school in the Philippines, click here........ All he had to do as a first step toward fulfilling his goals was pass this Bar exam in September 2008 (color emphasis is mine):

The Philippine Bar Examination is administered once every year during the four Sundays of September. It covers eight areas of law, namely: (1) Political Law, (2) Labor Law and Social Legislation, (3) Criminal Law, (4) Civil Law, (5) Commercial Law, (6) Taxation Law, (7) Remedial Law and (8) Legal ethics and practical exercises. It is considered to be one of the most difficult bar exams in the world, having a passing rate that averages in the mere 20%-30% mark, a waiting period of six months and limitations set for exam retakers. - Wikipedia

Dex wrote and mailed this gorgeous postcard on April 3rd while he was there with a team doing research on health. In his note he wrote that the Bar results were due to be released that same afternoon. Because of the difference in times between Philippines and Oregon I was online in the wee morning hours that day when his one-liner blog post popped up in my reader saying that the Bar results would be out any moment. I called him. Dex was standing on a veranda overlooking the river below waiting for friends to text him from Manila when the results were released, as there's no ready computer access in that remote area. He told me that he'd just mailed the postcard so I've been excited to see it ever since. The Philippine Supreme Court website would be releasing the news and Dex directed me there, but it was on standby. We decided not to wait on the phone and I said I'd try to reach him the following day after I got some sleep.

But I couldn't sleep! I stayed up until the prompt on the monitor flickered to life with sites where the results were available. I clicked on one titled GMANews.tv and started scrolling down the last name alpha list. And there was Dex's name. He passed the Bar, one of only 20% to do so, and on his first try at that! I called him immediately and he'd just had a text message.......it was truly one of the most exciting phone calls I've ever had in my life.

The Bar candidates who passed the exam will be sworn in at a ceremony this coming Tuesday, April 28. Dex said that he will place his signature in a book that has evidently been signed by every lawyer in Philippines since those records were kept. I wish with all my heart that I could be there and Dex knows this. In the meantime, I'm now seriously researching flights with future plans in mind.

There are many intriguing stories of friendship out there in the blogosphere. Marie Reed has become an impresario of some with her Postcard Friendship Fridays. And I truly think that Dex and I have one of the most awesome (in the true sense of that word) ties developed in the realm of bloggers. I'm so happy for you, Dex, and am grateful for you in my life.

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