Dennis and Marge
by Oliver Carlos
When I was a little boy, I remember having a comic book on Dennis the Menace. I also see that character in the comic section of a newspaper. I didn’t know the meaning of the word “menace,” so I asked my Mom. She said it means headache because Dennis was a mischievous kid. I wasn’t a reader yet at that time, so I really didn’t get to know the story of Dennis, I just got contented looking at his sketches. I liked his hairdo though.
As I grew older, another cartoon got my attention. I loved watching the Simpsons. Bart seemed like the 1990s version of the 1950s Dennis the Menace. I find Bart’s family funny. The guys Bart and Homer would always cause trouble, and the girls were always there to balance things out. I like the character of Bart’s mother, Marge. Her hairdo too is unique and so she’s easy to remember.
In the 2000s, I met another Dennis and Marge. They’re not cartoon characters though, they’re real people. I met them in the youth group, Students With A Purpose (SWAP) which I was leading at that time. SWAP is a Christian organization in UPLB. We had weekly Bible studies, and monthly fellowships, prayer meetings, concerts, basketball games and volleyball games, and out of town camps on semestral breaks and summer breaks.
Dennis and Marge were two UPLB students regularly attending SWAP together with dozens of others. Dennis Lozada was from Cagayan province. He’s a BS Biology student. Unlike the comic character, he was such a good boy. I took him under my wings when he was still a freshman, and I was like a father to him as I trained him to be my assistant in leading our Bible study group.
In one summer camp which fell on a Father’s Day, Dennis returned the favor to me. He organized a surprise tribute to honor me as his “father” in college. That’s my most unforgettable memory of Dennis as that moment brought me to tears.
Meanwhile, Marge Baingan was a BS Applied Math student from Isabela province. She’s around 2 years younger than Dennis. When she needed a place to stay, we took her in our household and treated her like a daughter. Our little son Jethro suddenly had a big sister. My wife had daily sharing and prayer time with Marge for a semester until she found a dorm in campus.
After graduation, Marge started working in Manila. She also returned the favor to our family as she became my son’s Math tutor when he was in high school at UST. Marge’s place in Manila was just a jeepney ride away from my son’s school campus. Marge continued to have a blessed life in Manila as she just got promoted recently in her company.
As for Dennis, he took up straight graduate studies after finishing college, and now he is a PhD. He’s now a professor teaching Agriculture in a university in New Mexico, USA.
Dennis and Marge are now in their early 30s. They started out as honest-to-goodness friends in college. After graduation, they kept in touch, being SWAP alumni and magkababayans from Cagayan Valley. More than a decade after graduation, they fell in love with each other. Even though they’re half a planet apart, their love continued to grow. Dennis flew back to the Philippines weeks ago to marry Marge. They tied the knot together on June 22, 2021, with me and my wife as ninong and ninang.
I find it fascinating how God caused all things to grow under his perfect timing. Who would have thought that two friends would one day become husband and wife? Who would have thought that love can grow across great time and distance? Well, if it’s God’s will, it is God’s will. And for Dennis and Marge, this is indeed the case.
“…but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow.” (I Corinthians 3:6–7, MSG)
To Dennis and Marge, congratulations and best wishes! God bless you on the new chapter of your life as husband and wife!
