God, Happiness and Life

When her parents went for a vacation three weeks ago, Aya was left in our care; mine and her Lolo. She stayed with us almost 9 days and during those nine days, despite her irregular sleeping hours, I didn't feel tired at all. Wonder of wonder! Maybe, because the love we feel for her is so over flowing that rest wasn't that of a big deal. I took all these pictures while there were just two of us in the house.  Lolo went to office that day and there were plenty of time to shoot these photos. Isn't she adorable? Sorry for being biased, but in my eyes, she's the most beautiful baby ever. I love you Aya! The camera's flash was scaring her in the beginning Warming Up Looks like she was excited too with the photo session.

 .. mail, that is. Despite the pervasiveness  of communications through the web, I still get a lot  of pesky materials from my snail mailbox - not mails from friends, or the usual utility bill mails, but those  ubiquitous unwanted mails from credit card, health,   or  insurance companies. These companies offer pre-approved plastic cards and pre-approved health insurance plans without you asking them to do so. I am sure most of us experience the same. Think about those annoying bulky mails which could be raffle sweepstakes or   real estate open house invitations. Others,  sell stuff like magazine and newspaper, cable or internet connection subscriptions,  etc. In the first place, where did they get my name? Receiving unsolicited mail can be truly irksome. For one, junk mail is definitely  not environment friendly. How many trees need to be cut to be able to send those voluminous and sometimes glossy flyer advertisements to...

A poem from someone Unknown " I said a Mother's Day prayer for you to thank the Lord above for blessing me with a lifetime of your tenderhearted love. I thanked God for the caring you've shown me through the years, for the closeness we've enjoyed in time of laughter and of tears. And so, I thank you from the heart for all you've done for me and I bless the Lord for giving me the best mother there could be!" I LOVE YOU MA!

Today is my Father's 15th Death Anniversary. He died from a cataract operation because, as we suspected he had overdosed on anesthesia. Cataract is supposed to be a simple, uncomplicated operation.  In fact earlier that month, his right eye was operated first. Able to regain his sight on his right eye,  he was too excited to get the left eye immediately operated on. He was too happy, he said the first one was a breeze. No one saw it coming. I was too shocked when I got that late morning call from my cousin who was with him at the hospital. They were buddies, this cousin and , my father, so it was very okey that he was the one who accompanied him  during the operation. Early that day, I was expecting an important call from my Singaporean principal. My plan was right after that call, I would immediately proceed to the hospital. But it became too late.. he was in comma right after he got out of the operating room. The doctors were unable to give us an acceptable answer. ...

This is what I call our picture wall. The wall bears most of my families memories in photos saved from  Ondoy. After that devastation I just refused to cower and accept that the things I love most will be gone forever.. and so began the process of recovering the photos.. it took almost six months to completely dry them.. bringing them out when there was some sun and bringing them in when there were rainshowers. And so here on this wall you can find my childrens pictures when they were truly very young.. and today, when I am lonely, I just look at these wall and recall those wonderful times of my children's wonder years.

Now based in the USA after having had an experience of Russian life. Cory used to be a very good friend I met while we were staying in Quezon City. We were  concessionaire neighbors. Her children were friends with mine. Her partner is our Concessionaire Association President while I served as Secretary. Until the turbulent days came in. We left Q.C and there was a lull. We lost touch. But now that we have found each other again, we both promise to keep in touch as soon as she comes back from the US. Looking forward to that.

Celebrating her birthday. Cheers! She was a classmate in intermediate grades. Bold even during those early times.. speaks her mind and a real go getter. We used to go Girl Scouting and were together in one big international camping activity in Camp Gonzales, Quezon City. She used to lend me her Girl Scout uniform before I had my own. I think she owned 2, that's why. Mildred has been based in Venice, Italy for the longest time. She speaks Italian very fluently and remains one hell of an adorable woman. From her fb profile I grabbed this piece of info: