"Simply Beth-iful"

I came across a home video by Sara Hickman while lurking YouTube today. Although I am not that familiar with her career as a singer, her song, Simply, touches me in a very special way.

I have not heard this song in more than a decade and hearing it again is like a breath of fresh air for me. Actually, it was really bittersweet. You see, the song is a favorite of somebody dear to me and the melody is simply beautiful…

Beth, my college buddy used to sing the song in our ’tambayan.’ On some occasions, I would end up accompanying her on my old acoustic guitar while she would fill the air with her hauntingly soft beautiful voice. I even remember now of composing a short instrumental piece based on the song in her honor while under the influence of the spirit of the great San Miguel.

We became friends during the second year of our Pre- Med-- dissected cats together, goofed around in chemistry lab, fooled our geriatric professor not once but twice, good-naturedly embarrassed one another countless of times, and drank our hearts out in the evenings.

We did a lot of stuff that could make some people laugh, cry and cringe at the same time. Yes, we did smile in happy times and understood each other in silence during sad times.

So, tonight I will drink a bottle or two, dust off my old guitar and play the song once again for you, my dear friend.

I say, thank you old buddy for the beautiful memories and thank you Ms. Hickman for the lovely melody.


*Beth died in a tragic accident a month after our graduation, 17 years ago today.