kanlungan sa kalawakan

they urge me to cease and feel the world

i went on and on

i was too proud of what i've achieved

i was never wanting anything from outside myself

never was i feeling tired except self-satisfaction

until today

now everything dawned on me

it was never a good option

life is so short to be taken too seriously

what i forgot was to live life the way i should have lived it

i thought i had enough

so now i am taking time

i am slowing down

making sure everything's just right

right for me

right for the people around me

right for those who care for me

right for those who matter

right for the world

right for the One Above.

it's never too late to live life

it's never too late to inhabit oneself

it's never ever late to be just what you want

let it breath

let it linger

let it sing

let it sieze

let bliss

be

I live alone and changing things from time to time can be considered a luxury for me. As for the covers, I must admit, I DO NOT intend to have it changed regularly. The last time I changed it was when Mom visited my place 4 days after New Year 2008! :) That's more than a year ago. Haha!Ü

I planned to visit my sister in Cavite before flying to Davao. Problem was, I had to finish the laundry. So...I started out the next batch.

2nd batch -- soiled clothes (lighter parts)

I washed the remaining soiled clothes in preparation for the break. (Honestly, I also believe in new year impression! New year, new life, new beginning. So if one wants to live peacefully, one begins to consider his/her home a peaceful place to live in.) And I felt (not that I am distracted with messy kitchen, dining table and study area. In fact, I'm really used to it.) I just hoped to start anew! Clean out all 2008 mess and so I continued on to the next batch.

3rd batch -- soiled pantsThe 3rd and last batch! I was really tired I needed to finish it no matter what. (And by God's grace, I was able to finish all.) But I was dead tired due to multi-tasking. Anyhow...

After having done with the tasks on hand, I contacted my brother in Davao (who's supposed to meet me at the airport) to give him my flight details. Our conversation was:

Me: "May, sa lunes da kay ang flight ko." ( May, my flight sked is on Monday.) Marcial is Mamay or May for short - the 4th in the family - but he's called "Mamay" by the whole family or "May" for short.

Him: "Aw kadi? Na hala ipasundo da ta kaw kang Abet." (Ah really? Ok, I'll ask Abet to fetch you.) Abet is Albert, the 7th in the family - the one next to me.

Me: "Nasa kadi, ikaw kadi? Busy-hay kaw?" (Why, how about you? Very busy?)

Him: long pause..."Kuan sagud Tel, yakasala ako, adi ako duon headquarter nami, restricted ako kay yagpabuto ako...yahingaw ako, Tel! Basi di ako kauli gani duon pasko og sa birthday ni mommy"(Ah Tel, I can't as I am restricted right now, I won't be able to meet you. I fired my gun when I got drunk. I may not be able to go home this christmas and or during Mom's birthday.)

Me: Unan?! Unay yahitabo kadi??? Yauno kaw dun? Awo'y yatiruhan mo? (Huh?! What happened??? What happened to you? Did you shoot someone?) I was so worried all he heard after that was sigh and my crying.)
He comforted me saying all is ok. He was just drunk and he didn't know he got his gun and fired it. Nothing was hurt but as policeman, he shouldn't have done that. He was terribly sorry. He promised this won't happen again. I was thinking we wouldn't be complete this christmas. He was so apologetic. My mind raced - I texted him last Thursday when Mom arrived Davao, no reply. In the evening that same day, I tried calling, still no response until Friday. It wasn't really him so I decided to call him as soon as I fixed my things. I thought something was really wrong...and I was right.

Him: "Mouli si Kuya, basi magmotor Davao to Surigao." (Kuya will go home but will take a motorcycle ride from Davao to Surigao.)Generally, the term "Kuya" is a term of respect for elder brothers. In my family's case, it is a term for endearment to our youngest brother, Oliver - 9th in the family.

Me: "Nasa na mag-motor da isab? Gusto mayo madisgrasya da isab?" (Why would he take motorcycle? Do you want to have another accident?)Him: "Tel, tawgi da lang idto. Kaw da matigam. Ayaw da pagtiyaho. Okihay lang ako ngadi. Pag-amping kamo. Sorihay gayod." (Tel, call him and let him know. You take control. Stop crying. I am just fine. All of you, take care. I'm so sorry.)
He still muttered something like, he wanted me to take care of his wife, Chona (my high school friend and batchmate), that he loves her so much and he wanted me to relay the message that he's so sorry. I said ok I'll be fine. We'll be fine.

End of discussion.

Maybe I was so tired so I ease myself in bed and all I knew was I slept without eating dinner and woke up with a bulging eyes.
December 21At 4am, I woke up to ready myself for Cavite trip. I did some cleaning and left the house by almost 8AM. I needed to come visit my sister and her kids. I brought my cam so I could take photos and videos of them and show to mom and siblings when I get to the province. I arrived at my sister's place around 11AM, we took lunch together and played with the kids. The rest of the time was spent taking photos and videos and "fixing" my sister's pc - which made me realize I needed to bring my CPU to Davao since I'm not using it anymore. I even called for help from a friend who was too busy that time. I was sorry I even bothered him.

Anyways, after I fixed my sister's pc. I was able to transfer the photos and videos we just took for her husband to see when he comes back. Her husband works as security officer in Ayala mall.
Then finally, we said our goodbyes around 4PM.
(My sister is Nuvah, the 2nd in the family. She and her husband are blessed with 3 beautiful kids!)

I arrived back to my place around 7PM. I've taken my dinner on my way back so as soon as I arrived, I resumed packing my things while washing some more just-used clothes and uploading of photos, videos, talking to my mom (who at that time was in Davao for already 3-4 days to meet me) and other siblings thru phone and chat. Thanks to SUN Cellular phone for the unlimited calls/texts and thanks, too, to my PLDT DSL for unlimited internet access.

I planned not to sleep as all wasn't set still but as the night deepened, I became too sleepy that packing was a lousy thing to do. I couldn't even remember if I had put the things I needed to bring or not. I decided to put the packing off for the next day because even if I intended to travel light, what I was actually doing was the exact opposite. The feeling that I was bringing the whole house back frustrated me. And since it's almost morning, the air was getting very cold until I couldn't help it anymore so I dozed off around 2AM.

My flight is scheduled today, 2:35PM.

My brother would come see me between 8 or 9AM and I remembered he mentioned, I should have been ready to go by then. So I made no haste. As soon as I woke up by 5AM, I repacked my things. My once "neat place" became the flying ground of things I had packed in the evening that shouldn't have been in the luggage after the re-packing.

My bed was amess.

My dining table got all tied up with things I would set aside - thinking it could still be accommodated after some things were put inside.

My study table was amess, too! Some electronics were moved and removed from their original locations. The CPU I intended to bring was left in the middle of the aisle. Stereo and its accessories were put between my bed, my study table and my dining table, leaving a scarce place for me to move freely. The place was actually similar to an abode of 5 drug addicts! And I wasn't proud of myself at all. Damn!

Joel (my brother, 5th in the family) and his son (Alfonso, 4 years old) arrived at my place at exactly 8am. They said they had their breakfast. Wow! The first question my nephew asked was: "Tita Anne, why is your house so dirty?" My brother was shocked, too. I couldn't explain their facial expression. Haha! All I told my nephew was: "Sorry, baby. Tita is in a hurry. Do you wanna drink water?" His reply was a simple "Yes!" And to my brother, I just smiled. :) He understood.
(This brother of mine has 2 sons).

I turned on the TV, changed channel to cartoon network and left the kid on his own. I continued to pack. After packing, I took shower and off we go leaving my messy place around 10AM. ( I needed to be early so as not to miss my flight but Cebu Pacific has always been tardy - we finally boarded the plane almost an hour after my flight schedule). We, because I had to escort 2 minors,my co-passengers (as per Cebu Pacific check-in personnel's request).

I arrived Davao around 5PM. I was met by Albert, his in-laws, Tata and Ate Menjie, Mom, Jin-jin. (Tata's real name is Florizil and he's the 3rd in the family. He works also as a policeman. Ate Menjie is his wife. They got 5 kids - 3 girls and 2 boys. Jin-jin, on the other hand is our youngest. Her real name is Genevieve. She's studying as 3rd year Education student in the University of Mindanao, Matina, Davao City.)

The initial plan was to shop then take the bus bound for Mangagoy by 2AM the next day but Mom insisted we needed to stay until the 24th as she has had a long list. Tata thought we would sleep over at his place that night but I explained that we might not be able to make it since Mom insisted we started shopping so we wouldn't run out of time. He agreed and I assured him we'd be there the next day to visit his family.

All was set. So we only had dinner, took my appointment with the dentist afterward, did some window shopping and had more chitchats.Ü

First things first.

We took our breakfast at a nearby foodchain, MacDonald's. The plan was to take our breakfast at Tata's place but you know folks, when your companies are both slowpoke, you couldn't just impose things on, especially if that slowpoke is your Mom. So we arrived Tata's place around 9:30AM - in time when Tata was no longer there because he went to work and his daughter, Jexy, has gone off to her classmates' place to work for their school paper - the Harry Potter Book Review. Even so, we had fun. We exchanged stories, took pictures, etc. and we had lunch so we could start moving on to our next target - the mall.

We went home when the mall closed by 11PM. Yes, that late! My siblings and I were so exhausted but looking at Mom, you'd never see any sign of fatigue.

She loves shopping. Not obvious she's shopaholic, huh?!

When we're finally back in my sister's apartment, we were hurrying to re-pack our things for the early trip to Mangagoy. The bus leaves at 2AM and the next trip would be 5AM. Our target was the 1st trip so we didn't sleep just so we'd be in the bus terminal ahead of time. What we didn't realize was the date. No matter how early you are on a day before Christmas, it's no cool! At all!

A day before Christmas!Ü This is it!Ü

We were in the bus terminal around 12:30AM. We waited for the bus long enough for my leg to ache. It finally arrived at exactly 10 minutes before 2AM. And right as soon as it stopped in its designated station, passengers were like animals (literally and figuratively) fighting for their seats. Standing in the middle of that rumble, I thought there would be another stampede. I was so scared - for me who braved in to get our seats and for my brother whom I saw, was trying so hard on his way in! Good thing my brother's high school classmate went ahead to reserve our seats. Otherwise, we would be travelling standing the whole 6 hours, or worse, would be waiting for 3 more hours for the next trip.

Anyways, I never had this kind of trip my entire life until Christmas 2008!

But it was liberating! (Not at the moment of struggle but only after we had taken our seats and the bus was smoothly moving and we were just reminiscing) Haha!Ü

Our travel by land (which include the waiting time from Mangagoy to Lingig - my hometown) lasted for 9 hours due partly to the bad weather. It rained so hard all motorists were slowly moving - careful not to engage in road accidents.

Around 11AM, we were finally home!Ü It felt so good to be home! Everything just felt so right!

We had crabs(lets) and grilled fish for lunch.

We had smiles.

We chitchatted.

We laughed.

We sang (and I sang at my Mom's videoke). I wasn't in tune but my siblings had so much fun!Ü

It rained so hard, we didn't mind. What mattered was have had each other's company and we were having fun! Ü

3 hours after, we planned to swim but we couldn't - the once clear water became brownish in color. It wasn't fascinating to look at. So we resigned in bed instead. We woke up around 7PM and it was too late to prepare for noche buena. All we had was dinner and fun just by sharing stories and all.

And we failed to hear mass! :(

At 9PM, Manang told me we would hear mass which would start at 10PM. (Manang by the way, is Maricel or Macel or Marick or Cel - but I always call her Manang - the 8th in the family).

We were supposed to open the gifts we had for each other after the mass but we were so tired to even get up.

Or we were so lazy.

Whatever, we missed Christmas 2008 mass!

December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!Ü Hihi!Ü

I was in the mood to cook and feed the family. I never cooked for anyone apart from myself my entire life in a special occassion as Christmas! Not that I hate to cook - in fact, I LOVE to cook. It's just that the food I cook doesn't seem to cooperate.

Let me say this.

I am not a good cook. It's always been an experience that what I cook only ends up the last to be tasted...eventually, end up in dogs' platters.

But not this time!Ü

I got something from the freezer, had the beef thawed and let the pressure cooker did the rest. After the desired minutes, I mixed some veggies and viola! I just made my family "pochero" - the beef soupy thing that made them forget their name a couple of hours. Nothing was wasted...for the first time!Ü (Or maybe they're too hungry to complain...) haha! Ü

After breakfast, we prepared a light lunch. Mommy could not be given fatty foods all the time so we made some veggie salad and "kilawin." The rest of the day was spent playing with my neices. (One is official neice, the other one is "unofficial" - don't ask why, it's a very long story or if you want, you email me and I'll do a separate article for this one).

After that, we went to bed for an afternoon nap. Also, my godson came by and we had some chitchat. I didn't prepare gifts so he had cash.

By the evening, I visited my sis-in-law and other relatives. They're fantastic and so was the experience!

A day before my Mom's 61st birthday!Ü

We were all worried because we couldn't contact our aunt who owns a piggery. We were supposed to order one pig to roast (lechon) for Mom's birthday the next day. (We had a 80-kilo-pig which is no longer feasible to roast, not to mention unfavorable if roasted so we needed a new maybe around 20 to 30-kilo-pig for roasting).

Around 9AM, we were finally able to contact one of my cousins. I was told that he'd inform aunt/uncle and that they'd bring one here. I felt relieved.

We relaxed (and I swam to my heart's desire) until...

Mommy's birthday!Ü

It rained the whole day (though intermittently).

I woke up around 5AM and so were my siblings except for Jin-jin, the youngest. (She wakes up late ALWAYS unless when she's at school, she follows the schedule, though).

Mom was still sound asleep when I whispered her a "happy birthday" greetings and kissed her forehead before I got down to start the day's preparation. My younger siblings did the same and that awaken Mom eventually. (Oh by the way, whenever I am home, I make it a point I sleep in her room/bed. I don't stay in my room and nobody complaints because all knows I love to hug mommy and I rarely do it while they could always do this thing whenever they want to since Mom is very near them).

I felt Mommy was extra happy on her birthday.

Even if we're not complete, she has all of us it seemed. Thanks to gadhets and technologies. Her phone rings non-stop. Imagine, we are 10 in the family - 6 married while 4 still single (myself included) plus the in-laws, nephews and neices - I have 6 neices and 6 nephews.

By 9AM, my aunt and her husband arrived by boat. They didn't bring anything but themselves. I asked them if Brian (the cousin I talked to about the pig I was ordering) relayed to them that I needed a 20-30-kilo-pig. They said, no!

We didn't mind. We had the pig anyway but only too big.

We decided to roast just the half of it. We will cook the rest.

So we had menudo, adobo and some veggies for lunch. Had spaghetti, maja(pronounced as ma-ha), fruit salad for merienda. Pochero, roasted pig (half - first in the history), birthday cake, grilled fish and veggies for dinner. We had our selected visitors, too. We didn't need all to witness this meaningful event. We only invited few of our friends: Daisy, Manoy's high school friend; Odette, my college friend - she also took with her her boyfriend, Chris from UK; Ating, Kuya's high school friend (by the way, these are Lim siblings); Dixie, another of Kuya's high school classmate and our neighbor (the family who's been with us for years now - they help us on our daily chores): Lino, Malou, Buboy and Bebe Jane.
(Manoy is Octavius, the eldest in the family. His wife is Cristina but wasn't able to come due to financial/schedule constraints. They got no kid/s --- yet).

While having dinner, I was busy taking birthday messages from the visitors. After dinner, we had "openning of gifts" (including Christmas gifts). This was really fun, especially when it was Manang's turn to open her gift. See the video soon! Ü

Then we bid the day goodbye a little before midnight.

We were tired but it was all worth it!Ü

We couldn't swim today (the weather is really not cooperating).

Almost midday but it still rained.

We relaxed.

We slept.

We just chilled on books I brought with me (well, at least the ones I brought for my siblings to read on because I picked my reading list from school). But it was fine.

In the evening, I slept at Manang's bed. I needed to wake up very early the next day. I couldn't disturb Mommy.

Kuya is scheduled to go back to Davao. He had to leave 7:30AM.

I woke up around 5AM when the shrimp vendor was calling kuya.
Apparently, he ordered 6 kilos for him to bring to Davao as "pasalubong" so I assisted him.

I cooked something that is not supposed to be for breakfast - pansit with shrimp and grilled fish.

All fresh and they tasted good!

Kuya was grateful I acted like a Mom.

I woke up 5:30AM, leaving Mom in bed still sound asleep (I slept at Mom's bed the night of 29th).

No plans for the day but I was determined to swim (even alone).

The plan was eventually cancelled because we ended up continuing our readings due to the weather (I was right to speculate, December is really not a good time to satisfy my desire to be a dyesebel). 'Twas frustrating me by the day so I decided to do whatever that would divert my attention from "swimming." Afterall, it wasn't all I came home for.

My siblings were more creative than I gave them credit for.

They planned a much-awaited adventure. They were supposed to surprise me but they could see me frustrated by the thought of missing the swimming spree by the day so they wanted to cheer me up.

We have this place called "mahang-it" - a semi Boracay islet in our place and they're planning to take me there as soon as the weather would become nicer/safer for us to sail. I insisted we'd go on the 1st of January 2009. I haven't been to this place my whole life and I'm thrilled just by the thought of it.

My brothers were not thrilled at all but I was...and I was grateful, too! Ü

I immediately asked Mom to allow us to go - if not the whole family, at least allow us girls to be there. She agreed on one condition. Have the eldest or any one or all of my brothers come with us. I conspired Manoy (the eldest) to be busy come January 1st so he couldn't come and we could do anything we would have wanted. (Well, Manoy doesn't want us to wear swimsuits or go farther than a meter or two away from the shoreline and I'm pissed with it - that's one part I hate about him when it comes to swimming so that's mainly the issue why I would rather be with my younger sisters than him around.

As for the other brothers, they're too protective I couldn't do adventure my own way! The rest, they're not as phony as Manoy). Security-wise, we would have the Manong sailor (Lino) on guard and we have safety gears but Mommy wouldn't allow us unless the condition is met.

Fine (with pouting mouth)!

Bye-bye swimsuit.

Bye-bye AziL's free-style.

Bye-bye adventure (well, partially since going to that islet is an adventure in itself)! I thought it's better than no swimming at all.

I woke up too early. Earlier than anyone at home. And of course, my waking up too early eventually became the topic during meal. Haha!
(This is me - I get very excited when you talk about swimming not in a pool but in a...beach).

I planned to be very nice with all I would be seeing that day. It's the last day to make up for 2008. Ü

I cooked and prepared breakfast like a pro (though of course, I prepared something I could only cook, which, to tell you frankly, would not exceed to the confines of frying, saute-ing, having tinola and or grilled fish and adobo). Thanks to my family who doesn't complain anymore with the tastes my cooking does to the food I prepare. They're pretty used to it by now). Ü

We had breakfast which took longer than usual (more than 2 or 3 hours, couldn't remember) so by the time we finished it, it was about 12noon and we were all lazy to prepare for the next meal.

We slept.

We were awaken by the phone's ringing. Abet called saying he's arrived from Davao. "Thanks God!" I muttered. We would be able to get our orders in preparation for the new year. (Manang did all the planning for the "media noche" - she thought of doing macaroni salad, buko salad, ever-present spaghetti, maja, biko and of course my everlasting pochero and adobo). I don't mind if others would add another recipe but I intended to finish what I had to on or before 5PM so I would have enough time to read and or just sit and relax. But by the time we were about to finish the dessert-preparation, Manang's friends came by. Told them that it's imperative they tasted what Manang has prepared before they left.

They were gone before dinnertime. However hard we asked them to stay, they needed to go - and besides, according to them they are so full and their families were also waiting for them on dinner. They wouldn't be able to eat at their homes should they eat at ours. So we gave up. Some more New Year wish exchanges and off they went. (I acted like their age not because I'm smaller than them but the joy they gave was really contagious). Those kiddos! They're fun!Ü

After dinner, we prepared for the mass which was scheduled at 10PM. I suggested that this time, no more sleeping and we all made it. Ü

Media noche was ready by the time we arrived home from church.

Mom did the magic.

We were cam whore-ing afterwards and then my siblings went off to bed. I read twilight when everyone's quite. I slept late - I guess around 2 or 3AM (in time when my laptop ran out of battery).

My anticipation for the swimming also drove me to rest EARLY (and not EARLY IN THE MORNING). Though I felt something was coming...and it was both good and bad.

New Year's Day!Ü

Swimming day!Ü

I was giddy until I noticed my monthly period was just in the nick of time to ruin the plan. :(

At first, I didn't let everyone notice so we could still push thru.

First days are always pain in the (totooot)... so my acting failed. Mom ended up cancelling the whole thing. My brothers were supportive of mom so we ended up (or I ended up) just resting at home.

It was a blessing in disguise because my cousins: Leslie and Ramil went there to see us all. Another high school classmate (Armen) also visited me and my former highschool friend turned sis-in-law, Chona.Ü Since we just stayed home, Mom was feeling good.
Food was great, too!Ü

So all in all, New Year's day was great!Ü

The weather was really great! Ü

Mamay (Chona's husband - Mamay is Marcial, the 4th in the family in case you're confused now Ü) and Abet (or Albert, the 7th in the family) were scheduled to go back to Davao.

(Chona, by the way, is my friend turned sis-in-law).

Mamay and Chona slept in my Mom's house while Abet and his wife, Gigi slept at Gigi's parent's house.

Mamay woke us up all by means of kissing us on our sleep state, when he was about to go. So since we have been awakened, we went up and I got down half-asleep and murmured some unintelligible things while walking down the stairs then ended up sleeping again in our sala.

I was entirely up when they were on board the motorcycle.

The house is getting quieter by the day so we ended up reading after we had breakfast.

Lunch was light after being beefed up and pig out with fatty foods during the just-ended New Year's day!

Afternoon was just consumed by reading and mostly sleeping then church visit.

Manang, Jin-jin and myself conspired to have the swimming done the next day. We all agreed to wake up early to prepare for something to eat in the beach.

Mommy didn't notice.

Manoy was just quiet.

Menu for the next day was all set!Ü

Mahang-it day! Ü

I was thrilled like no other day. Jin-jin and Manang (who failed to follow the treaty we made the previous night because they woke up late) were tasked to ensure that Lino took care of the boat we were to ride to the islet and the "salva vida" or the life-saving gear.

I was in the kitchen ...again, cooking like a pro!Ü

I had pochero, pansit, pork liver with veggies, adobo in mind. Mommy was eyeing me suspiciously. In the end, I was able to tell her we would push thru going to Mahang-it. At first, she was pissed. I let her be. I didn't stop with my food preparation though she started to ignore me with my queries on the cooking steps. Manoy backed me up. He volunteered to cook in Mommy's place. Told her I could cook so advised him to just be there just in case. He's a great help we did it! Ü

Mommy who promised not to join us ended up in the 1st batch (joined in by Jin-jin and her boyfriend, Dean and Chona) to leave for Mahang-it! Thanks to Jin-jin's tactics!

Manoy, Manang and myself, on the other hand left the house around 12:30PM as group of second batchers! We were joined by Bebe Jane, Lino's daughter.

Beach was real fun!Ü

Despite the no swimsuit warning, we ended up swimming in our prepared suits! Ü

(I can't show off my acquired fats,though -- see I wore swim suit when Manoy wasn't looking...Ü)

My sisters were quick. As long as Manoy (and Dean) took their nap, we started swimming like we haven't been ...for years (in our swimsuits, of course!).

He woke up when we were back to our "decent gears" camwhore-ing. So he didn't know his instruction was not followed.

As soon as we reached home, we fixed ourselves and headed to Mommy's videoke's place. Dinner followed after that but it was more of review of the just-ended event. The whole gang was complete (including Lino's family). When the video and pictures were shown in my laptop that night, Manoy was just unable to complain anymore! ¤Ü¤

We just smiled at him and kissed him goodnight while we were looking at the photos we took and laughing out loud while we reminisced!

Mommy just kept silent and slept after a while.

Manoy was scheduled to go to Davao then wait up for me there so we go back to Manila together on the 6th. He has some business to attend to on the 5th before he goes back to Manila. I guess he mentioned he's going to have his videoke fixed. (By the way, he owns the videoke Mommy is operating).

He didn't catch me in bed as I knew what Mamay has done which he'd surely do, as well.

I woke up just in time for his departure.

I saw him off (while the rest of the girls, mom included, were still sound asleep).

By 7:30AM, Jin-jin and myself heard mass. Mommy and Manang could not join us to church because Manang was having her dysmenorrhea while Mom was coughing.

Breakfast was not as giddy as before that only 4 of us were left in the house now. We recycled the food from yesterday or last nights' party.

And right now (11:30AM), I am (or was) just writing this diary.Ü

I wanted to leave with the smell of the sea!

Yes, I intended to swim before going back to Manila.

We woke up very early (around 5am) and waited for the sun to come out.

It was fantastic!

As expected, I swam like it was my last (God forbid).

We were exhausted but feeling fabulously happy!Ü

We left for Davao around 9:30am.

The travel back was exhausting more than ever.

We were standing for almost 4 hours or was it really four whole hours?!

We could have waited until maybe around late in the afternoon but we needed to be just in time for dinner at Tata's place and for the 6:30am flight back to Manila on the 6th of Jan.

WWW, I am back!

Hope you didn't miss me much! Ü

Thanks for bearing with me.

Much love,

AziL®™

Did you know that we all pleaded God that you'd be very healthy and well the whole time you were in your mum's tummy?

(Yes, baby because we love you so much)

When you're about to join us, did you know aunt titel almost fainted when she saw your mum too weak, dear? But that's ok, you were so innocent to know that and she's now glad you didn't make it too hard for her.

(It was harder than your older sister and brother but NOW? NOT so much because you're as beautiful as them. Yes, baby we really love you so.)

Did you know that your Ate AJ and Kuya Keanu sneaked inside your room even if that time kids were not allowed to come visit you?

(Yes, baby they did that out of love for you. You are so precious to pass up THAT very moment. And I am glad they did just like that.)

Your maternal grandma, uncles and aunties all cried when auntie Titel delivered the good news! Yes, baby. All of us beamed with so much gladness. We praised God for you and will always do so.

I'm sure your paternal grandparents, uncles and aunties back home were very ecstatic, too. In fact, grandma is coming to see you - which I'm sure is with the family by now. See, baby, she will be taking care of your Kuya and Ate so mama and papa can focus on you.

And the funny part was, your Auntie Titel - that's me, baby - having so little faith in GOD traded something as important as you just so you be allowed to come out alive? Or maybe I ultimately panicked, I asked God he could make me SINGLE for life - yeah - in place of your coming out of mum's tummy.

(Yes baby, I did that because I soooo love you...from the bottom of my heart! I chose you over anyone else out there...though now, I hope GOD won't take that seriously...hehe! I mean we have you now and would it be much more fun if I get a love of my life, too? I guess that's what I meant.)

Hope God reads my mind and heart.

Seriously now, we really want you to know that we all love you so much. We wish you all the best God offers in this world. You're a God-gift from heaven and everyone wants to welcome you and wants you to know you just made our Christmas the happiest.

P/s.

Dennis Karl, the day you were borne, Manny Pacquiao won his fight against Oscar dela Hoya! For me, it meant God blessed him too because of you.

(Yes, baby because I'm very proud of you!)

(Yes you read it right. I've alloted it even before December.)

*** Another 20% goes to my trip back here - as I already have availed of a promo fair from here going home.

(Oh yes, It's gonna be fun! Can't wait to see my folks and all of them!)

*** Another 20% goes to house rent and other small expenses

(Of course, I have to pay the rent or else, I'll be going back to nowhere.)

*** Lastly, 40% goes to savings account.

(Yes, I wouldn't be allowing consumerism eats me up nor would I become a victim of such.)

Things are different these days. There are many lessons learned.

I am living within my income and I'm going to shy away from temptation.

(Which becomes too difficult by the day...hehe)