A Boy

At our condo lobby last Easter Sunday, I overheard a mom, a young boy and a lolo talking about the death of an uncle due to lung cancer. The boy kept asking questions about what led to such and his lolo mentioned that smoking was the culprit. I can’t help but smile upon hearing the boy, at his young age, saying “When I am grown up, I won’t smoke”.

Upon entering the elevator, the boy also popped this question to his mom, “Will daddy die?”. His dad apparently is a smoker. The mom, a bit embarrassed with the boy’s question, told him that daddy will not die if their family persuades him to stop smoking. The boy further inquired why his dad smokes, his mom plainly answered “It is a habit that is hard to break”.

Looking back, I am happy that my dad decided to quit smoking when I was 5 years old. According to him, some relatives and friends, it really is hard to break such habit. Nonetheless, with determination and willpower my dad was able overcome it.

Incidentally, one of my roommate’s dad passed away during the Easter break due to anneurism. She sent us this email, which I feel is worth putting on this blog.

I would just like to impart lessons learned in this "journey":

1. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happened for a reason.

2. Know a good thing when you see it and don’t let it slip away. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just said it would be worth it.

3. STOP SMOKING - promise all illnesses are linked to smoking (heart,liver,lungs, etc). yun mga doctors ng dad ko lagi factor yan smoking kasi may dad was not sick. apparently, smoking thickens the blood and makes our blood vessels thinner. kahit na 2nd hand smoke lang.

Holy Week with Kyle

During this year's Holy Week, I decided to take a trip with Kuya Ralph and Donna to their future abode in Los Banos. We were welcomed with fresh air, cold breeze (even at 2pm in the afternoon)and warm smiles of Kuya's best friend (since UPLB days)and family.

It was my 2nd time to meet Kyle, Kuya and Donna's ring bearer. They always told me how this cute 4-year old boy acts and talks like an adult.

It took the whole afternoon for him to warm up to me, just nodding and answering my questions with one or two words the whole time.I never thought the trip to the grocery would loosen him up with my presence. It took a bag of marshmallow for us to finally talk, take a picture together and even watch the TV by my side last Maundy Thursday night.

I could never forget one story his lola shared about him. One day after school, he came home asking, "Lola, ano po 'yung madamot?". He was apparently called "madamot" when Kyle did not oblige to his classmate's violent prodding to take his toy car.

Being an adult, I have somehow forgotten that years ago, we were just like this little boy, naive and innocent about so many things. It made me more careful of the things we say, do, teach and show to these kids.

Happy Birthday JC!

After texting some friends, reminding them to drop a word of greeting and encouragement for my dear friend, I had my biggest laugh for the day. I even got the attention of those around me, while laughing and looking at my cellphone.

Brix, a co-Kids Church Teacher from VCF, texted back, “Sino si JC? Bonin?”. JC is short for name for a girl, a very close friend of mine and spiritual partner. I instantly called JC and told her about it and were laughing our hearts out. A good way to start your birthday JC, right?

My Time in Between

I read a very nice article from one of my daily dose of egroups mail, short articles by Ron Hutchcraft’s (I think he is a Pastor). He happily recalled, how (as a kid who would travel with his dad on business trips) actually found those two to five-hour flights exciting.

“ For me, that time in between my two important places isn't just headphones, movies, plastic lunches, or reading about life jackets. In fact, there's no phone calls, no interruptions. It's some of my best time to write, create, prepare.” - Ron Hutchcraft

During my first few business trips, I dreaded the time I spent at the airport and also at the plane. Since it was a “business trip”, I always saw to it whatever I did at the airport was work-related (i.e., browsing over my notes, looking at my spreadsheets). Its like penalizing and overwhelming myself over the day’s and week’s load of work and meetings at Bangkok.

Now, I have taken a fresher way to spend my time, not just doing work stuff, but also writing my thoughts, reading a good book, looking at soft copies of pictures and taking time to text my love ones.

Lastly, I'd like to share how Ron Hutchcraft related this time in between to life itself.

“ "Maybe you're in one of life's "in between" times right now, sort of
cruising until the next main event. You're between jobs, waiting to get into college or back into college, maybe you're in retirement and waiting for something to happen. You're single, sort of killing time until Mr. or Miss Right comes along, waiting for God's will to clarify or for some door to open. Maybe your health or your finances have you "in between" right now. It could be that you feel like you're in between two important things so you're just meeting the minimums."

“ "God is trying to say, "Where you are right now is important!" He wants you to give 100% to this assignment from Him. And in the course of capturing where you are, God will show you where He wants you to be in the future."