Author name: NORINA QUIRAY

My baptismal name is Maria Norina Norberta Candida Ferrer Quiray. I was born on June 6, 1960 in Manila, Philippines. My mother graduated from The University of the Philippines Medical School in 1945, during the American Liberation from the Japanese atrocities. Governor McNutt from Indiana gave all the doctors preference number 4 which was honoring them reciprocity to practice medicine in the United States. Some of them had been killed and many sustained serious injuries. My mother was hit with a shrapnel on the head. Luckily, it was just her scalp but she was bleeding so bad she thought she was dying. In the late 70's, she came to the United States, however, the Governor's offer of reciprocity had ended. She then had to take the medical board exam to practice medicine in this country. She lived with a classmate in Boonville, Indiana, for 2 years through 1977. She couldn't come to my high school graduation. She had petitioned all of us. On January 1, 1978, my eldest sister and I came over. Eventually, my father and all of our 6 other siblings followed. My sister was running my life. I was just going wherever she took me. Our port of entry was Los Angeles. Our mother moved in with us and shortly, my sister went back to the Philippines to finish her medical studies in psychiatry. I enrolled at Los Angeles City College and as if God meant for me to be there, on February 15, 1978, I met the most handsome man in my life, a tall blond blue-eyed who became my boyfriend. He was in my Sociology class and he started dating me. We saw each other everyday and I fell deeply in love with him, however, we didn't last. Because my mother missed the reciprocity deadline, as a consequence, she had to take the medical board exam to practice medicine in this country. She left me and went to Chicago to take it. She took over 30 years to take the exam. She got rusty so her luck ran out. She missed the passing score by a fraction of a percentage. It's not an indication of how she rated as a practicing doctor in the Philippines. She was an excellent and magnificent one. She also worked for the President in Malacanang, the White House of the Philippines. Incidentally, my boyfriend and I lasted only 6 months. He was starting to show me apathy so when my 2 sisters came, I was just too willing to get the heck out of there and go with them. We moved to New York City. I was very heartbroken and depressed. I had wished my boyfriend and I could've kept a long-distance love affair but when he wrote me a letter officially breaking up with me,, I felt hopeless and it was the end of the world. I kept in touch with my friend who told me my boyfriend had hit it off with the girl who had been shamelessly outward with her crush on him. My friend invited me to come and stay with her. That summer in June 1982, I took her up on her offer. My 3 friends from school came to visit me once. My boyfriend visited me 3 times but he made it clear that he was seeing other women. I stayed a week. My friend asked me to stay another week but I had to go back to NYC to work. When my mother asked me about my vacation, I hugged her and I sobbed hysterically, saying, "He doesn't love me anymore." In 1980, I joined the Legion of Mary, the Third Order of Saint Francis, Cursillo and the Charismatic Renewal. I gave up my love life and focused on my spirituality. Currently, I live with my brother and luckily, we get along fine. I'm working my way back to my boyfriend. I believe he's still single with no kids and also desires for us to get back together. I may be wishfully thinking again but I'm praying hard that it's God's will for us to get back together.

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