The Breakfast Club

I’ve resolved to not skip breakfast anymore. So for the past few weeks since I came back from leave, I try to wake up early to get to the office before 9 and have breakfast before starting the day’s workload.

I have the pleasure of sharing the “most important meal of the day” with three guys: EJ, Paulo, and Dens. They are the ones who arrive at the office earlier than me. Sometimes, I eat with only one or two of them. But whenever they’re in “full force”, my mornings start out with a good jolt.

These guys have made it a sport to find amusement in most things I do. They think it’s funny when I get startled, when I don’t get jokes, or when I yell “Let’s cross na!” when we go from Tektite to Pearl Drive. I let them have their fun, because honestly, I don’t really get annoyed with their wisecracks. And they know it.

It actually feels a little like having brothers with you all the time. Rambunctious and sarcastic brothers who never tire of teasing.

Breakfast is usually a rotation of McDo Sausage McMuffins, Jollibee longganisa meals, Dell’s tapsilog, or Hungry Hippo burgers. They’re not very healthy food, but the easy conversation and laughter we share over those couple of minutes equip me with good humor - or hope for good humor - for the rest of the day. That makes any greasy food healthy – emotionally, at least.

Although when they call me “girlaloo” – they know this gets my goat – I want to conk their heads.