Friday, January 12, 2007

"Kilig"

What is the English term for “kilig”? Is it giddy? Is it euphoric? Intoxicated? Kilig leapt into my mind just now because I finished reading a magazine article about having a crush and experiencing throes of kilig. That unmistakable rush we feel thinking about something good that just happened, or a thought about someone. Isn’t that the greatest feeling in the world?

Kilig is not all shivers and kicks, it is so much more. Perhaps I wouldn’t be able to define it fully if I were to explain it to my non-Tagalog speaking friends. However, we all know what it is, and would smile complacently thinking about those teenage years overcome with kilig.

What are your kilig moments? I like looking at wedding pictures, and it would be on my list of kilig moments. Why? It is because weddings are a pool of mixed emotions- happiness, agitation, melodrama, guilt, pride, triumph, apprehension, hope and bliss. The look of love between the couple on their wedding day makes me kilig. The promise of a new love, the blossoming of new relationships makes me kilig, too. I delight in listening to stories of getting to know each other stages of dating, of planning a wedding, of seeing someone really likable. Basking in “I really like her/him a lot” thought is supernaturally pleasant.

An unexpected call from a loved one, an unexpected kiss, and unexpected words – these all bring flood of tender sentiments in us all. Who wouldn’t be kilig when a boy you liked brought a bouquet of flowers in front of all your friends in a crowded café? Or when a boy you recently met, and whom you really liked promised to see you after your class, and found him running up in the stairs to catch you as he was a tad late? Or when a boy gives you a tender kiss in front of his all his friends...?

Kilig moments are endless. But only if you allow it to happen. Think about the past, and you will find surprising moments worthy of kilig. Good and happy memories bring this juicy and overwhelming feeling. Love, love, love. It is a vast savannah of kilig

This piece is for my hubby- the object of my kilig since 1999…

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