One of my favorite preteen memories is going to the gigantic two-story National Bookstore in Glorietta. I would run – not walk – to the long stretch of magazines that covered an entire wall. It had everything from international magazines (always too expensive) and of course, local ones specifically for pre-teens (like me!) such as Meg Magazine and Candy Magazine.

As a lonewolf, I devoured these magazines and felt like they were my best friends. In high school, I would pour over them with my friends because it was highly likely that my crush from Ateneo would be featured as a 'Candy Cutie.' It was also this love for magazines that fueled my desire to write. I so badly wanted to be a 'Candy Girl' that I pretended to write profiles on myself, daydreaming about the day when my story will finally be told in the magazine of my dreams. It was definitely a 13 going on 30 moment and my dream was fulfilled in another way when I met the editors behind the magazines I grew up with and of course, when I was blessed by this column by Miss Tessa and The Manila Times.