He wished me LOVE

 During Christmas, hearts are more softened, more forgiving, more grateful, more giving, more joyful, more sharing, more loving, more trusting, more believing. I am excited what to give. Ah, the spirit of Filipino Christmas. Let us give freely to the world these gifts of love and compassion. May we not concern ourselves with how much we receive in return, just know in our hearts it will be returned.

I am not expecting to get a Christmas gift this year. Although some surprised me with an earlier gift and I so love it. I am not planning to buy myself a gift, either. That could wait. What kept me busy and net inactive during the last week was thinking how to share my blessings and putting it into action. And I have my favourite person. I was excited to see Tatay St. Joseph. I call him that because he stays at St. Joseph Parish at Project 3 during the day, asking for alms and sleeps somewhere in Sta. Mesa. I forgot his real name already.  My sister Razi was a teacher in QC that time, and every Christmastime we have so much food on our table that we have to share it among our neighbours in Manila.  We saw tatay one Sunday after our church service. His face is so gentle and he always smiles so we gave him alms and interviewed him a little. He said that his family was caught in a fire and lost them. He dared not to go back to his province but joined some other beggars in Sta. Mesa. He told us that St. Joseph is his favourite place to stay because first, It is a church and God will protect him there and people will have a kind heart to give him alms after hearing the mass.  Secondly, it is easier to travel from Sta. Mesa.  We were touched by his story that we bought grocery for him and gave it the next day before we went home in the province. It has been an annual thing for me and my sister to give him present since then. Aside from the alms we give each time we see him.

His eyes lit up when he saw me with my bag of grocers! I was so happy to see him. Thank God he is still alive after so many years! He remembers my sister too and I told him that she is in Thailand and has a family of her own already. We exchanged stories, much from my part and pretty still the same from him. Old age showed in his face already. I hope I could give him more than the bag of grocers. I should have bought him a Tshirt  that says ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ on it.  And a slipper to make his feet more comfortable. I was thinking all these things for a while. Then he said that what I gave him is more than enough. Few people often stopped by to talk to him, he said. When he said ‘Thank You’, my heart is full. I will definitely see him before New Year and I hope to see more of him in the years to come. I forgot to take a picture with him so I could share it with Razi. Next time I will not forget. I will not forget to ask his full name, I will not forget to carry a prayer in my heart for him, I will not forget him. May God keep him safe always.  I was so close to teary eyes so I wished him good health always. He wished me Love. That made me smile so wide. J

Lessons learned from the Viaduct

I have been passing  this ‘long bridge’ from Tarlac to Manila for as long as I remember. Every time I was being fetched and when asked where I was, I would say. “i’m still at the long bridge”. It was only last year when  duggs, a friend of mine,  told me that it was called a viaduct. From then on, each time I pass the Candaba viaduct, I swear I saw it differently.  And 3 days ago, I was mesmerized by the view.  Rain-fed lowland Candaba looked like the sea ,  thus the  beginning of the second crop season. It occured to me that I have  always been fascinated with the farm rice. Or anything that has to do with Rice, that is.  Then I saw those migratory birds that escaped winter and their wings brought them here. How I love to  take a shot! Darn. If only I am not on a bus. Or  not at the viaduct. I noticed that these birds are all around. A visual salute to farmland and refuge panoramic moments, these birds (am still researching about them)  take refuge in a walking wetlands:  their home at least until the winter is over.

But what I would like to say is that the viaduct is an allegory of life and expectations, where someone leaves his past , walks away from all  unwanted and boring events in his life and travels to his much awaited and anticipated future. He discovers that along the viaduct there are innumerable travellers that seeks the same fate as he does. Some people anxious to go back and others excited to leave. We take different sides.  We must understand  that along the way we learn. That these sights, these views, these strangers, the stretch of either side of the road paves the way to that onward perspective that we long for.  Be sure you know where you are going because if you don’t, any road will get you there. For me, at the end of this viaduct, there is the road that leads me to  what I call home.

Not my pet peeves

I am a dog lover. And my dogs loved me, loves me and will always love me, I'm quite sure of that. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. I have learned that from our dogs. They speak LOYALTY. One more thing that I like most about them is that they wag their tails, not their tongue. I would really like to think that when I talk to them, they listen to me intently and they do what they are told. I was feeding my dog Andocks one time and it just smelled the cookie so I offered it to the little pup, jungle. The senior snarled at the puppy reminding the little one who's the boss and that it meant to teach jungle that what is for Andock's is for Andocks's alone, The little one just whimpered, afraid of the senior's fangs of authority. With that, I came to jungle's rescue, threatening Andocks that if it won't eat that cookie, I will surely not feed him lunch. Our eyes locked, mine telling him I'm the big boss. It then bowed its head, picked up the cookie, went away and dropped it. I saw what it did and again repeated the threat. It picked the cookie again and ran far away from me. I secretly followed the dog with my eyes and voila, checking if I was not in sight, dropped it again and went back home. 

I hope that I get to keep my pets beyond mortal life. Our cat is not as sweet as our dogs maybe because it was just a stray cat and she's not used to being touched, but she is my jungle's best friend. They share the same  bed =) I imagine that they will also enjoy eternity with us. I feel that dogs have made an alliance with us. They bark at our enemies and we protect them just the same. I find simple things are enjoyable such as a walk around the block. They sure follow me EVERYWHERE the moment I opened the gate. I say dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. I hope you enjoy  this commercial  as much as I do.

   Love and friendship. They are what makes us who we are, and what can change us, if we let them

 a spoiled puppy. He loves to be cuddled. But soon to be a proud dog like his mentor, andocks II.

The best dogs. Andocks will treat you the same way how you treat him. remember: He doesn't forget =)