I Can Only Imagine

(A recollection of events from people I know who were affected by Typhoon Frank)

* The first thing that Hariet's sister packed were the shoes. She stashed everything in a garbage bag and brought them to the second floor level of the house.

*Gigi and her daughter were trying to save their television, when they saw a snake slither through the water. Plok! Down goes the tv under water, and up they run to the second level of their house.

*Nora spent three days on top their roof. She lived near Jaro CPU area. Saw her yesterday, puffy eyed and dead tired. She was able to save three backpacks of belongings and the rest were stuffed in two plastic bags.

*Jenny, along with her baby, run and sought shelter in a neighborring mini-grocery store. All she thought about was the safety of her child.

*July and her kids were staying with her brother's when it happened. They were safe. But she couldn't help but feel the lump on her throat imagining things happening to her own home, which, by the height of the storm, must have also been under water.

*The water was knee-deep when Mia crossed the street to settle her things (her dog, some groceries, a bag) on a higher location. After a minute, water rose to chest -level and she had to hurry back to fetch her father who was clinging by their door awaiting rescue.

*Charice's sister had to shake her back to her senses when she saw the water rushing inside their house. For a minute or so, she was stupefied.

*Aster spent Saturday night at SM City with many others who intended to do their last minute shopping. They got stranded when the water rose. She was just supposed to buy an emergency light.

*Jane's mom was able to save the charcoal they were selling in their tiyange. At least they still had something to sell after the storm.

There had been many storms in the past but nobody had predicted the flash floods. My colleagues, though some of them have already reported to work, recount their stories with an air of exhaustion. They might be physically present with us but you could tell that their thoughts go back to the labahan which still needed much attention, the silt inside the house, the appliances which they can't do anything about anymore, the lack of water supply, the bed which still needed to be aired so they could have a dry bed to sleep for the night.

I can only imagine and be grateful for myself that my family and I, though plagued with our share of trials and difficulties, were in a safer location. Water was only ankle deep in our yard and it subsided each time the rains stopped. We can't complain.

Drink 2 Glasses of Milk Daily

Mama: Koy, finish your milk, na. Your teacher said that you have to drink two glasses of milk a day.


Chikoy: Indi na ya glass, Mama, plastic na ya!

Oo man gani....

Big Daddy's Breakfast

Sunday was extra special breakfast day for our resident daddy.

Fried Bacon Strips
Mushroom and Cheese Omelet
Pancakes
Burger Bun
Rye Bread
Brewed Coffee

Happy Fathers' Day!

First Bloom

Okra, cut into three parts, soaked in drinking water overnight, causes its juices (that slimy thing) to come out. Okra juice, the resulting mixture, is drank in the morning and is said to lower blood sugar levels and helps burn fats easily which also makes it ideal for slimming/ toning.

I don't the medical explanation for it. But from experience, the hubby's blood sugar level dropped from 220 (already with maintenance meds) to 160 (meds + okra juice) ever since he started the okra treatment!

And so we started our own okra garden and had our first bloom today.

Thank You and Godspeed!

Yesterday, I said goodbye to a dear friend, my son's nanny. She had been with us since Koy (aka Boz) was only one month old. She didn't have the faintest idea how to care for a baby back then, but because she needed work and I was making the most of my two-months' maternity leave, we mutually agreed to give it a try.

She learned fast and was never hard to coach. She did her work diligently to the point of getting mad at my in-laws whenever they interfere with her work. You could easily tell when she's angry or trying to keep her emotions at bay from the way she pouts her lips and the manner that she struts. The hubby never liked it when she did that. And me, I try to rationalize.

During the first two years, I sent her to Saturday classes where she learned manicure, pedicure and facial treatments, which selfishly served my parlor needs. She also learned basic dressmaking and pattern making. I thought the classes would be good for her so she won't be easily bored with work. But being a person who never really liked school, it became hard to sustain her interest so she didn't take up additional courses and stayed home to watch TV instead.

The next thing that we did to keep her busy was make her handle our mini-loading business. Our market was the people working with my hubby's family's small business and a few of my officemates. She managed the collection and reloading diligently. For that, she get monthly load allowance. I never really cared if I was earning or not, I just wanted her to feel empowered and not just see herself as a nanny to my son. Through the endeavor, I learned that I could always count on her honesty and integrity. She always gave me whatever she has collected up to the last centavo.

As a nanny, she was good to my son. She practically raised him, I should say. She was not the nurturing type, though. Again, because she never really knew how to care for a child in a maternal way. And also because she was the nagging type. She sure knew how to pamper my son, giving him what he wants, buying him stuff, even from her own pocket. Just recently, she bought him an Iron Man T-shirt and Cap for his birthday and nagged me for not buying my son character clothing. I was deeply touched, actually. We had our budget tied to buying the Transformers toy that Koy wanted to have so much that I didn't really thought much of buying him anything else. What she lacked in the teaching faculty she compensated with all the love and affection that she could give.

I could always count on her on anything, looking for stuff that I misplaced (and be nagged for it), withdrawing money (and be nagged for it too) and even tidying my things up when I go out of town (that she would do gladly without my asking her to). With her around, I never had to worry about my sons needs. I'd just give her their weekly allowance and she would buy him everything he wanted (but always within budget). She'd take care of his vitamins, his meds, things that he would need when we go home to Bacolod, his day pack whenever we go out to the mall (extra shirt, water bottle, two face towels, baby wipes, tissue paper and a small toy). She'd nag me about school fees and school projects and even went to the extent of borrowing money from my mother-in-law to enrol my son because she was afraid that they wouldn't get the schedule that they wanted because it was on a first come first served basis. And when I went home that night she said, "Mads (short for madam), may utang ka to sa kay Inday (my MIL). Ginpa-enrol ko na si Boz, kay basi ma closan na kami sa schedule no!" I was so embarassed but relieved to be bossed around. It's just that my midyear bonus was still a week away and well, money is scarce these days.

But for all the beautiful things that she had been, she was ill-tempered. She'd beat a dog to death for gnatting on her favorite shirt. She almost caused havoc when the neighbor's helper falsely accused her (the nanny) of making comments about her (the helper's) get-up (very short, tight-fit shorts and plunging tank top). And her nagging was non-stop when she had encounters with the hubby's aunts (whom we are living with). And she does it in the eskandalosa attitude: loud voice, pacing back and forth as if all the steam was about to go off her nose and ears. Her eyes almost popping out and her hair almost ready to turn into medusa mode. She'd turn into this monster ready to take on her prey. She'd come off it eventually, either by crying her self to sleep if not after days without showing any emotions.

That was that attitude of hers that we all didn't like. Sometimes, when she's angry, she'd vent it out on Koy, speaking harsh to him, losing her patience so easily and threatening to leave each time. We thought it wasn't healthy for Koy. We observed that he was imbibing some of his nanny's temperament. And we'd have to put up to it all the time. And so we decided that the next time she threatens or asks permission to leave, we won't be holding her off.

And so it happened yesterday. I entered the house with two bagfuls of grocery items and some funny and exciting stories about what happened to me at the supermart when she told me of her decision. She was leaving and she was not coming back. I didn't really know how to process it until I was able to unload all the groceries and talked with the hubby about it. The reason why she was leaving was she's had another verbal encounter with the hubby's aunt who was accusing her of hurting Koy when all she was doing was reprimanding Koy for being angry and almost running her (the hubby's aunt) off with his bike. "Anhon mo na siya, patyon?" the hubby's aunt said. "Twako, kung gusto ko na siya patyon, dugay na... ikaw na gani ang ginasakit sang bata, amo na nga ginasaway ko, ako pa ang malain." It was always like that, us having problems with trying to discipline Koy because she would always interfere, getting angry at us for making the boy cry, she'd say. And the nanny, being responsible for Koy, she must have just been too tired to fight it any longer.

It was painful... seeing her pack, seeing her turning over everything to the helper. But she didn't cry. At some point, perhaps, she'd been wanting that moment to come so she could finally make up her mind and leave. She's been held off far too long, her husband wanting her to leave last December, my asking her to stay until March, her saying that she'd stay until Koy's birthday. It was bound to happen, and it's time has come.

I cried... although I knew from the very start that she wouldn't be with us for long, I still cried. Because I saw how she loved my son. I cried because I knew, for all her character flaws, I've seen her grow in the years that she's stayed with us. She was like a small sister to me, stubborn, temperamental but very loyal.

It was time to let go. So she could start her own life now, be a wife to her husband, learn how to be a homemaker. I hope she lives the lessons she learned in the four years that she has been with us. That she will learn how to cook, eat whatever is served on the table (with no complaints), be accepting of other people's faults, be respectful of other people's opinions and be more considerate of other people's needs. I hope that she will start a family soon (giggles) and she will have kids of her own so she could love them more than she had loved my son. I would love it if she could also come and visit us whenever she wants, so Koy will not forget her and she will not forget him too. And we could still be part of each other's lives even no matter how far apart we are.

13 Going On and On and On

Today, the hubby and I celebrate our 13 years of being in a relationship. Everything started out serendipitously:

1. I was entering my second year when he graduated from college and he found me.
   
2. I went out with him to tell him that it wasn't going to work and ended up having my first real kiss at the tennis court near the dorm.
3. I almost cried after I bumped into his nephew who introduced me to his friends as his "Tita" during that time when we had our first (and only) break up which he refused to tell his family in all hopes of saving the relationship.
4. To win me back, he sent (through a common friend who went to visit me in Bacolod) a message which came with a box of JD Bakeshop goodies. It sent me packing and running back into his arms. (eeew! I'm so mababaw! LOL!)
   
5. We were in limbo in our relationship for too long that I almost thought we'd end up forgetting that we were supposed to take our relationship to the next level already when the stork dropped by and made that decision for us.

Look at where it got us now...

Happy 13th Anniversary, My Soulmate!

Korean Drama : Lovers

Here's something for the hopeless romantic, my preoccupation after AI7.

Synopsis (from www.selaplana.com):

On the outset, Ha Kang Jae (Lee Seo Jin) and Yoon Mi Joo (Kim Jung Eun) couldn’t be further apart. He is a gang leader, a man of few words and many scars; she is a beautiful and successful plastic surgeon who excels at all she does. Loner Kang Jae, after a tumultuous childhood growing up in an orphanage, has no need for family, while Mi Joo has a large family of siblings adopted by her minister father. When the two meet by chance, an unlikely romance begins, with their differences both driving them apart and pulling them inexorably back together.

I can't really say anymore than that so I don't spoil the fun but I'd like to give you the lyrics to the song Go Hae (Confessions), the song used in many of the emotionally-laden scenes in the series.

What happens now...
What should I do?
Fearlessly, without hesitation...
I love her.

Quietly, even I...
Even I don't know
Pretending I've forgotten
Even though I live, I die.

Even the world's condemnation
Even this crazed appearance
Even knowing all this, even though it frightens me
I love you.

Where are you?
Can you really hear my words?
Then this the blood that spills from my pitiful love
You must know this too...

Please forgive me...
If you punish me, I'll accept it
But her...just this one person...
Please allow our love.