By: Ellaine

Petite.

Spectacles framing her small face.

Chinky eyes that seem to squint in that adorable fashion. Full lips. Long straight hair. Tomboyish in gait but extremely demure in manner and demeanor.

This is Trixie Cruz-Angeles.

Mother, Cook, Daughter, Sister, Friend…Lawyer.

This is Trixie Cruz-Angeles.

Today, she shone brighter than usual. Here is why.

Pro Bono is legalese for “work for free”. She has been this, for the last couple of years, busting her chops to work through the legal maze towards freeing heroes. Men in uniform whose greatest trespass is caring more for what is right that their hard-earned careers.

Today was the first day I saw her in action.

Wearing medium heels with patterned black stockings to complete a black ensemble, she was all business. No matter that she looked too young to be the proud mother of a 24-year-old pilot. No matter that her body makes any 25 year old fit lady envious- FHM does NOT feature um… the horizontally challenged (ouch!).
She mostly works alone. Most of the male lawyers are intimidated by her. I ask her about this and her glib response was that simply, she does her homework. I supposed they didn’t, and it made sense.

You can trust her with your life. I do. We have been friends, all of 2 months. But I trust her. She is just that kind of person. And in return, you want to earn HER trust. It’s as if it is one big privilege when you do.

She is very open in a very circumspect way. She does not pretend about anything. What you see is what you get. She respects your space and she teaches you how to respect hers, without being offensive.

She has a generous heart. An extraordinary one because what she gives is HERSELF. Her humor is something to aspire to have, for, no headache, losses, disappointments, sadness, anger, disgust, sorrow, can dim it. She will find it easy to laugh. That is her spirit – laughter.

Today, sitting as the lone woman in a panel of 9 male lawyers, she stood her ground. She did what she had to do. She spoke with a steady, firm, soothing voice yet she outshouted the men who were wailing their lungs out. She made sense. She MADE the panel of the court martial listen. She made the prosecution panic, rattling them to the point of pushing them to senseless repetitive statements. She had her head set straight upon her shoulders, she was fearless.

vThere were times I know her heart broke but she remained steadfast. She had to, for her clients. She can’t show them how devastated she was. They draw a lot of their strength from her.

She told me, in one of our coffee-talks, that she knew the doctrine about not getting emotionally invested in her legal clients. She then told me that she has gone there, and beyond. She said, she won’t desert them, ever, because she CAN’T.

She has been attacked from all sides since she has taken on this responsibility. Her person has been maligned in so many ways. From ridiculous accusations of body modifications, to malicious and fictitious stories, as well as questions regarding her morality. I know she gets hurt. She is human AND a woman. But she forges forward, barely flinching. None of these has she allowed to distract her. Not at the least. If anything, she has used these to fuel her further and farther. She has not strayed from her goals. Not once.

For this, she has earned the highest respect from the officers and soldiers. Even from those who are not her client. She has earned their fondness and affection. She is now blood, to them. I believe, most of them, would lay down their life for her. They have become fiercely protective of her, even though they know she is more than capable of protecting herself.

She has energy. She has spunk. She is fun. She is beautiful.

This is Trixie Cruz-Angeles.

She is my friend.

Today, she became my HERO.

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reynz is one Uragon and a Filipino-American, has many years of public accounting & auditing, broadcast investments, housing tax credits and equity investments as his background. Based in the US, he maintains his personal and humor blog at reyna elena dot com. A graduate of Aquinas U, he went to GWU and Temple U in the United States.