let this be a successful post from my brother's phone

today

today it's getting to school safely, despite the brake malfunction in my car (and me plowing through the mini-island near an elementary school). it's hearing nice, sincere words from people who believe in me despite all the troubles that's been coming my way. it's seeing and being with dear dear people who i miss terribly. 

it's chatting with the person i love most. 

it's thinking about a happy future that will come really soon. 

a rant before i sleep

When someone says they want closure, I realized they don’t really mean they’re ready to face the end. When someone wants to end something, they usually just do it. Without fanfare, without declarations, without a need to make a big deal of it.

If you're done, you're done.

So be done.

the midyear report

it's amazing how time flies. i remember writing this last year and feeling all sorts of stuff. the past year had been extraordinary to say the least and now, lemmetell you what i've been though for the first half of the year:

the year started really good with loved ones and prayers

in feb, i finally was able to see our place.

and i love it!

we were also able to visit the old folks at asilo and went mangrove planting at banate

in March:

pulag, finally!

luz-vi-min family reunion

and our first ever white coat ceremony (achieve!)  

                      

The first week of April had us celebrating a very special birthday

and the following weeks: a homecoming, plus my godson's elementary graduation

it also brought me to Cebu

(doing some thinking at Bigby's while waiting for my dates)

and back to more home-cooked meals and happy memories

May had us travelling back home for lola's funeral, and another set of medical mission

and dropped by my students' internship in Cebu while meeting some old friends 

 

and back again to my other home for more home-cooked meals and more happy memories.

the last days of May were spent with the clan for some birthdays and my mom's memorial

June was the start of another chapter in my career.I really don't think of it as an achievement - even if people tell me it is - but rather a challenge for me to make some changes where I am.

June also was spent with family at the farm.

Sifting through the many pics I was able to take the past six months made me realize a lot of things. I was even amazed at how much was done in a short span of time. There were milestones, there were difficulties but the happy memories far make up for the troubles that came along the way. 

I am glad to have started and ended the first six (and started the next six months) with the person I love most. I know there will be more work to be done these next months, maybe even more decisions to make, situations to face, but I look forward to making more happy memories and strengthening bonds as the days go by. 

Let's get it on, second half of 2012!

drained is an understatement

my day started with a mass at 630 in the morning and then the freshmen parents' orientation at at 8am. the open forum was exhausting! i was expecting some of the questions but there were a lot that i did not anticipate.over all, though, it was good for a first ever parents' orientation. 

in the afternoon, I rushed to molo church to attend two good friends' wedding. The church was lovely! there was not too many flowers but they made bamboo "grow" inside the church!

here's the very excited and happy groom

and our lovely bride with tito and tita

(yeah...i cried....)

and their very nice vintage car!

Fr. Celis wed them and this was what he had to say during his very brief sermon: 

"True love easily brings families together. Anything less than that is a false union. Love never destroys. It builds. True love strengthens. It makes everything possible. It makes everything worthwhile." 

I wasn't able to go to the reception because I had to go back to school. I wanted to catch up with them for dinner but I remembered I promised my "kids" I'm gonna drop by their gathering so I skipped the reception (the wedding was more important imho anyways), fetched and brought lil brother with me to hang out with these wonderful youngsters.

this saturday was just soooo tiring. physically. mentally and mostly, emotionally (i cried during the wedding march and cried some more during the sermon and still more when they said their vows...and more pa gid while driving back to work...i realized i wanna have MY wedding too)

and to end my day, little brother treated me to my favorite coffee and macaroon combo while we catched up with each others' lives...and no crying this time:

today, i am thankful for signs and support and little brothers who certainly know how to end my day right.

goodnight and sleep well, friends!

first friday

Sometimes I get scared and I doubt things going on in my life. My cousin told me that I should be thankful for these things....and I am - really really am, but maybe because I've been burned before that every time something goes right and I feel so happy, I get scared that it might be taken away from me. I honestly can't afford to have my heart broken again. I know that's stupid because I should have just kept my walls up, hid behind those walls and locked myself up but it's too late now. I made a decision, never will regret it. And I am liking where I am and where I am going (hopefully sooooooooooon).
Right now I am happy. Right now I find myself wanting something so much that it scares me I can't even breath at times.
Early today I went to church to light my daily candles and to go to mass seeing that it's the first Friday of the month. Today was St. Maria Goretti's feast day. Maria Goretti is an Italian Saint whose power of forgiveness and purity is a model for all young people.  The priest's sermon was about love and acceptance. He said something like:
"Love is a feeling transpired from the heart. Love cannot be thoroughly describe nor can it be defined by anyone. Not even the most intelligent or the wisest people can tell you what love is for love is something you need to experience yourself to know exactly how it feels. You need to experience the swelling of your heart when you see that other person. You need to experience the butterflies inside.
Love is about acceptance and therefore, the person who loves you most should accept you for who you are. However, love is also about compromise, which means you wont mind changing for a better self in order to coexist in a relationship. Love, real love, really is all about compromising and meeting the other person half-way. Its a lot easier to do for the sake of someone who means the world to you."

I've always said that there are no coincidences and today's sermon was another proof of that. I was thinking twice about not going to that early mass because I had something else to do but I decided to go because it felt right and the sermon was what I needed. it eased my worries a bit.


Today I am thankful for my happiness and everything that goes with it. I pray this happiness will be something that will really last.

thursday

People are never who we think they are. They’re selfish. They lie. They change their mind. They will not pull through when you need them.

But guess what, you’re no better. I’m just as bad, too. So do we stop caring? Write them off? Burn bridges?

That’s one way to live. And the way of love is infinitely harder. But we do it anyway despite the disappointments, the hurts, the pain. Because people shouldn’t be disposable.

There is always much to gain when we think we have all to lose.  Always.