Monday, August 19, 2013

To Her With Love

I have this reputation for being a person who doesn't eat much and I won't even try to redeem myself from that. But one thing I know, I am such a breakfast junkie. I just cannot miss breakfast. We had a neighbor who we call Ate Tita, who would come over everyday to do our chores. I don't let her wash my clothes but I think cooking breakfast is a special task for her specific for the middle child who works at night and comes home looking for breakfast.

One morning inabutan ko si Tatay ang naghahanda ng agahan and I thought Ate Tita must be late or something. Later I overheard Tatay telling Nanay that Ate Tita came by to inform him that she was not gonna be coming over for a while. We know she was complaining about having diarrhea the past couple of weeks and the next week after that, she couldn't poop. After having checked by the doctor, she was advised to be confined in a hospital for 3 days. Well, she never get to come back. She was diagnosed with colon cancer and she was confined for more than 3 days. She passed away in less than a month, at their own home, and today she has been cremated for 5 days already.


It was hard for me to wrap my mind around this truth. Everyday for the past 3-5 years I would come home to the breakfast she cooked. Ngayon, I would come home, check what's for breakfast then wonder who prepared it, Tatay or my brother Rap. It still feels like it was Ate Tita's breakfast. In my head, I would sometimes ask "ganon-ganon na lang ba talaga yun? Kailan lang, andito pa ngayon wala na." This is me pondering about the meaning of life. 

I wanted to question God when I learned about the cancer, but I saw His loving mercy when He finally took her. Hindi na kasi pinatagal at pinahirapan. Lahat naman talaga tayo dun din pupunta. Sabi ni Nanay, kapag daw tinatawagan niya si Ate Tita sa hospital, she would say "kaya mo 'yan ha" and the latter would strongly answer "kaya ko 'to kay Lord". I guess from that we can pretty much assume where she will spend eternity.

Sa aming 3 magkakapatid, ako yung anak na palaging nasa bahay pero parang wala din. Being the introverted person that I am, I'd always lock myself in my room and I hardly talk to Tatay, paano na lang kay Ate Tita. Ngayon meron na kaming bagong tagalaba at plantsa. One day, I heard her say that she used to have really long hair but she cut it and sold it for P1200. I felt the urge to be involved in the conversation.

I will call her Ate here because I still don't know her name. 

Me: Talaga Ate? May ganon pala? Sinong bumili.
Ate: Mga taga Laguna eh, ginagawa daw nilang wig tapos dadalhin sa Amerika.
Me: Pero dapat maganda ang buhok?
Ate: Oo. Hindi mo ba nakita yung buhok ko dati? Hanggang bewang na itim na itim na maganda.
Me: Oh okay. (hindi ko sinagot yung tanong niya. I obviously did not notice because of my lack of care)
Ate: Naghahanap daw talaga sila ng mga mabibilhan ng buhok. Tapos nakarating sila dito sa atin. Nung nagtanong sila, ako ang tinuro ng mga taga dito. 32 thousand daw ang benta nila dun kapag natapos.
Me: Ah talaga. 

I didn't say much but I was proud of myself that I took interest, I genuinely thought that was quite an interesting story. Maybe I should listen and care more.

Lately, I've been having this intense desire to be the best version of myself. I equate that to being better at what I do, accomplishing goals and being cool. Alam ko walang masama dun. I've been telling friends that God created us for something, for greatness if you will, and He is committed to help us be just that. But lately I've been thinking, is that all life is about? Being great? Some people even live for less dahil ang goal lang nila sa buhay is to live life to the fullest. They do that by going places and experiencing things. So I guess wanting to be excellent is not all that bad right? Maybe, but I'm not sold to this idea anymore. 

I met up with Brigs this weekend and Je told us about a story of her friend who was granted a scholarship abroad that costs millions. This, based on the moral of the story, is brought upon by having unwavering faith and boldly asking God for greater things. In a practical sense, this is how this story should impact me: I would want to boldy ask God to do great things for me too. We meant for these stories to glorify the Lord, and they do, but it also shows something about us.

Self-centeredness. This is where I am getting at. Sometimes it is always about us. Maybe we are meant to be excellent in a way that other people should benefit too.

I get these thoughts because Ate Tita left a family, who would not only have to deal with a loss of their mother, but from now on would have to worry about money for food, school and electricity.

I'm having these thoughts because if I would be honest with myself, I don't think I made any sort of impact to her life at all.

Maybe Blue Like Jazz is right. Maybe Joyce Meyer and David Bonifacio are right. Life is meaningful if it's focused towards other people, helping other people live better lives. True religion cares for the poor, the sick, the orphans, the widows and the widowers (kung makasabi ako ng poor parang ang yaman ko lang no?).

I heard Pastor Paul Chase once said it: It's simple. Live a life that glorifies God and helps people.

Again, this is me being a saint pondering about the deeper meaning of life.

I am closing this entry with a song. A few months back when I was feeling messed up,  napapaiyak ako ng song na 'to. It gives me that feeling na 'wag ako madiscouraged, "this is not the end", better days are up ahead. I read somewhere though that this song is really about the after life. That our days here on earth are numbered and they don't always turn out to be good for all of us, but this is not it yet, one day "we will open our eyes wider". 

This is to Ate Tita who we miss dearly. We will see her again, someday. This is "This is Not the End" by the Gungor.


Monday, August 05, 2013

Why Do We Hurt the Ones We Love

Automatic na sa 'kin ang magconnect sa Wi-Fi kapag dumarating ako sa office everyday. This is how I get updated sa social media kasi wala kaming internet sa bahay. I was browsing through some tweets one day and read a joke tweeted by Patty Laurel. She's always like that, corny jokes and all and I'm used to it. That day though, I was either having a bad day or the joke may have been extra corny, I had to quote it and add a piece of my mind. I made sure to remove the @ sign though because I did not want for her to read that. Tapos, tinabi ko ang phone ko at hinarap ang computer para paniwalain ang sarili ko na handa na akong magtrabaho. Tumunog ang phone, may nagtext, or so I thought. When I checked it, I couldn't believe my eyes. @pattylaurel replied to @SiRaqsAko, I said "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God". Tapos narealized ko, para yatang hindi siya masyadong masaya and why in the world did she get to read my tweet eh hindi dapat! "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God" ulit ako nang mas malakas this time. Nilapitan na ako ng mga katabi ko kasi akala nila kung ano na nangyari sa 'kin. In my head I was thinking, sasagot ba ako? Natakot din ako sa thought na ako na ang sunod na Amalayer. 

Siguro yung ibang tao paninindigan na lang yun, and that makes sense. People bash in social media all the time, this is one of those. It's also way cooler to appear like you don't care. So she was pissed at my tweet, o tapos? 

But for what it's worth I had to tweet back. I had to call myself a Twitter moron and say I'm actually a fan and apologize. Why? Well for one, totoo naman kasi yun. I am really a fan and I'm sorry she read my tweet because I did not know how Twitter works. Secondly, I can tell she was pissed kahit na naglagay siya ng smiley. We are entitled to having our own opinions, but not to ruining anybody’s day or mood through harsh words. Especially not her's because she is always very encouraging to others. 

The funny thing is, I never direct tweet celebrities, I only follow those I really like. Minsan na lang napansin ng sikat ang tweet ko sablay pa. And before this, my Twitter account was always protected. I made it public just this time at eto ang nangyari -  a classic case of a girl who was always afraid of flying, and that one time she had the courage to try it, the plane unfortunately crashed.

The idea of getting a tweet from the celebrity you really like is thrilling, but not in this light. Tragic story of a fan girl. I tweeted then that I would be writing something about this entitled "Why do we hurt the ones we love?" It was just a random thing then, if anything I was only making fun of myself. But because of a recent incident with my father lately, this now makes perfect sense. 

This is how the bomb fell. The other night before going to work, I had an exchange of words with Tatay. Though my points were valid, I should have just kept them in my brain because they were hurtful. I went to work with no peace that night. It was killing me to be at the office when I should be at home apologizing. 

And then I thought, sa ibang tao we are careful of our words either because ayaw natin makaoffend or we care about how they will react. Pero dun sa mga taong we claim to love, we just say whatever we like. I was quick to apologize to Patty because I cared about how she felt. She did not reply and she even deleted her tweet to me. She basically just moved on with her life.

David Bonifacio has a point when he said we care about how we appear to other people na wala naman pakialam sa atin when in fact, dapat yung attention na yun binibigay natin sa mga taong mahal natin like our family. 

I look for love, but how do I care for my parents, the very people God placed for me to love. 

I also realized how careless I am with my words. I usually have a good grasp of self-control in most things, except this mouth! I just can't tame it. I don't really get bothered anymore by what others may think of me when I blab, but I guess when it gets me in trouble that oughta make me think. 

Yeah, yeah, this post has mother Teresa stamped all over it but I will never be embarrassed of it. It has more sense and meaning than some stuff people post in social media these days. 


Thursday, August 01, 2013

Birthday Brunching at the Fort

I hang out at the Fort when I meet up with Brigs and we pass through it when Ate Sarah drives me to work on some Mondays. This was the first time I had breakfast there with my barkada from work...and boy, hindi namin alam 'tong lugar na 'to. Haha! We don't know our way around. Walang-wala eh. Anong magagawa namin kung Makati girls kami diba? Chos. 

Burgos Circle. That's Josie, Gherry, Eds and me. Photogrid by Gherry.

Tokyo Bubble Tea. Photogrid by Gherry.

I'm not much of a foodie but I am definitely a salad person. I have yet to find a place with a chicken caesar salad better than this. 


Photo by Josie

 
saan ba yun?

Sweet Bella Cafe - good service but not the best experience altogether

I know our value is never based on who are friends are and how many they are. But God used these girls to affirm me and I am grateful for that.