Reunited

Reunited and it feels so good!
Reunited and we understood!

Yes, thanks to FB!  After almost forty long years of being away from each other, nothing  seems to have changed except a little in each other's physical appearance.  But the sincerity and the warmth of the friendship  is still there, untarnished!  The old ways, the language, the antics and even the non-verbals are still clear and very traceable.  Silang-sila pa rin !

Last Saturday, Remy , Rosette, Myrna and I had a chance to sit down and chat  ~ first time for the longest hours.  Basically, we used to be classmates and high school real buddies and  friends.  We were ACTUALLY SEATMATES! So, naturally, the conversations boiled down to high school memories . . . about girls and girlfriends, boys and boyfriends, teachers, crushes . . . everything about the good old high school days.  We tried to recall all the memories, funny and otherwise, and we laughed and sighed.

We also took a look at ourselves now.  I never thought that Rosette will eventually end up as a conscientious social worker and at the same time an academician in the country's topnotch university. She has roamed around the world reading her papers, giving as much as she can  her valuable contributions in her field.  Remy ,  who used to be a very good gymnast during our high school days ( I still remember when she got hospitalized due to a sprain/fracture while having gymnastic rehearsals ),  started and most probably will end up her career in the insurance business.  She  is now a big wig technocrat of a well-known insurance company in the country.  She is continuously enriching her life through travels as she gloriously looks back at her children who are now all professionals in their own right.  And the  most docile among us, of course, is Myrna.  She decided to invest her millions of pesos and time  to her six children and a loving husband.  She is also unselfishly devoting much of her time in serving The Great Master through the various talents that He has given her.   Myrna excellently speaks and writes English.  Right now, she is busy preparing the Church's magazine and attending the different church activities.  Don't forget us, Sis. Myrna!
    
It seemed the day would never end as we sat and eat comfortably at Barrio Fiesta, the home of original kare-kare and crispy pata somewhere in SM, North.  We started at daytime and we parted ways at nightime.

Sana'y maulit muli.  KAILAN KAYA AT SAAN KAYA?

Angel

Her name is Angel Anne Olaivar.  She's 8 years old and a second grade elementary pupil.  She's very smart, sweet and a very loving Ate to her kid brother JC and to her cousin Igi.  She's a true darling in the real sense of the word and you could easily describe her as pretty and beautiful inside and out.  She's an adorable daughter to be ignored and a very likeable granddaughter to be taken for granted.

Angel during our swimming party last summer. 
On her left is JC,  her baby brother.  On her right
is Benj Abanono, one of her buddies during her
summer classes.  At the back is Andrei Funa, her
best friend

Angel is a consistent honor student since her pre-school days.  She's very diligent in her studies, though at times according to her Grandmother whom she calls MAMA, she prefers watching television.  She's very sensitive to the needs of others especially to the emotional needs of other children.  She's very friendly, honest and a very caring classmate.  She's really a bunch of good character traits.

Smiling Angel ( the girl  at the middle ) during the photo shoot  
for   Queensville School 14th Founding Anniversary  tarp

We'll never run out of positive words  to describe our little Angel.   As she now rests in the loving arms of our Lord,  we will truly miss her.  One thing is sure, however.  Angel    will always be  in our hearts  . . . our little Angel at Queensville School..... FOREVER! 

I could still hear the yell of Angel .( in pink shorts )
Hail to the Blue! Hail to the Blue!
Hail to the Blue!  The Royal Blue!
(Her team is the champion during the
recently concluded Sportsfest )

We  love you, Angel!  Your Queensville School Family loves you very dearly!

Patience, my dear!

You'll surely find it very boring to fall in line from 1 o'clock in the afternoon and finish the transaction by 6:30 in the afternoon.  Good enough, God gave me PATIENCE.  Otherwise, I should have left the National Statistics Office (NSO ) Serbilis Center (  a misnomer I think  ) along Macapagal Highway earlier this afternoon  and forget about the birth certificate and the Report of Marriage being requested  by my daughter Rein for purposes of changing her name from Bael to Kitchen. Oh, by the way, NSO is offering an option if you do not want to fall in line and wait till the release of your requested documents.  For every document requested, pay 150% higher than the ordinary fees and  your documents will be delivered to you door to door.

I almost succumbed  to their offer.  It's just that I would be requesting for two documents and I found it quite expensive to pay twice as much for the two documents which will be delivered to one and the same address.  I found it very oppressing, really!hahaha

Since the two documents are badly needed by Rein, I graciously received the PATIENCE God gave me.  Thanks to my ever-present planner and I was able to review my forthcoming activities while waiting.  My Blackberry tablet also helped a lot with all the games in it.  And before I forget, one very good thing that this experience gave me was that I met two strangers, the one on my left and the other one on my right side each with an interesting life story to tell.  Sayang!  Hindi ko nakuha ang cell phone numbers nila...hahaha

On the brighter side of it, a lot of people say that the present system of issuing a copy of the birth, marriage and death certificate is far  better than a few years ago.  At least, as of today, you can go home with your requested copy already although it may take about 6-7 hours of your day.  Before, you have to wait for several days before you can pick up the documents.  Of course, I agree  but for NSO, there's so much room for improvement and take the will to improve!

Calling all systems and methods analysts out there!  This is a big challenge for all of you!  Can you please reduce the waiting time to 1-2 hours only?   Please !

Simply and Quietly

Saturday, January 26, 2013.  

Simply and quietly, we celebrated our 28^th wedding anniversary.

We started dating just the two of us . . . After 28 years,  it's still the two of us...

After two years of marriage,  God gave us a child.
From then on, we were three during  our family dates.
After 28 years, we're back to the basic. 

Our 28 years of marriage were full of sweet and not-so-sweet memories.  But we count every single minute of our marriage as a blessing from God.  From the sweet memories, we have so much to cherish. From the bittersweet, we have so many lessons learned. 

 Pray with us as we look forward to more blessed years.  We'll keep on counting!

If you're in a hurry...

Think slowly!

It may sound weird but yes, I believe, that’s true!  If you’re in a hurry, think slowly. 

Last Friday, we were scheduled to pick up the printed shirts at exactly 10 a.m. at the CM Recto.   Unfortunately, we were not able to leave the school immediately .  At about lunch time, we still have to deal with the usual signs of adolescence… from dependency to independency . . . among third year and fourth year high school students.  And before we were able to  leave,   there has been so much stress already.

We were about to leave when my  husband got a phone call from a relative in Dipolog.  Two box-full of  assorted fruits  were sent via AirPhil and will arrive at about 3:00  in the afternoon of the  same day.  We have to pick it up.  We were so excited to eat the exotic fruits from Mindanao.  However, it’s another stress for us  considering our hectic schedule in school in connection with our 14^th founding anniversary celebration. 

Wanting to get the t-shirts and at the same time pick up the baggages from the AirPhil cargo station, we hurriedly took the van and head off to C.M. Recto .  From there, we proceeded to Sucat Paranaque to get the package.  We gave the Airway bill number  and alas!  The baggages were there already! 

At the door,  it says, NO ID, NO RELEASE OF BAGGAGE.

Unfortunately,  nobody has the ID, a government-issued ID for that matter.  I only have my ATM cards with me at that time which could not be honoured because there were no pictures.

We all went home downhearted!  Sayang ang lahat . . . ang oras, ang pagod, ang pera!

It’s just good enough that the lansones were extraordinarily big and tasted so sweet and delicious!  Most of all,  many people were able to enjoy them.

Thank you to Lina Dapat and her family and also to Julius Canizar who took charge of the airfreight.

But next time Mr. Right,  if you’re in a hurry, think slowly.  Make sure that everything’s gonna be alright.   Right , Mr. Right?

My Longest Walk . . . Ever!

I  have thought of this moment  . . .  many, many , many times before .  But every time it comes into my mind, like a television set, I change the channel and dismiss it.  Subconsciously, perhaps, I still don’t want it to happen.  But I am fully  aware of the fact that, one day,  it will really do . 

I have created pictures in my mind of this moment . . . many, many times before.  But the pictures I have imagined  were quite different … entirely different from what I had seen and  what I had experienced.

It was truly  awesome   to be with the yellow, black and white people in a strange but most acclaimed place for a very significant event  !  How I wish all the people closest to my heart were there, too,  to witness this once-in-a-lifetime family affair.  

However, there’s one thing that  I failed to visualize  . . . not even once before . . . that I would take a long walk  ~ about ten meters long  in  two minutes!  To this date, in fact,  this is my longest walk so far.  And I do not need to elaborate more !

To my begotten child,  I LOVE YOU!

A few steps more and we'll " give her away "

Fruitcakes for Sale, Friendship for keeps

I love fruitcakes!  With my cravings for it and  at my age,  God has blessed me with a lot of it to taste from different stores, different people , and even from different countries on different occasions.  But last night, I have tasted one of the best fruitcakes I ever had. 

Together with Rosette, Phen, Cynthia,  Myrna  and Ara,  we gathered yesterday, January 11, 2013 at Mann Hann SM North for a simple get together basically to celebrate Marilou Villaruel Almazan’s birthday ( though it was already a few days late  because Malou’s birthday is January 8  and we were not able to join the others who celebrated her birthday with her on that day ).  But the occasion turned out to be a post Christmas and New Year celebration as well .  As each one of us arrived, Rosette greeted us with an apple pie ( also one of the best in town and you should taste it )  followed by a shell necklace ( direct from Hawaii ) and a chopstick set made of kamagong with mother-of-pearl inlay from Cynthia Admana.  While waiting for the others, Rosette served the fruitcake and the apple pie.  We tried  to look for some birthday candles for Malou to blow.  Unfortunately, there was none. 

the fruitcake baked with so much love by Rosette

and the APPLE PIE

L-R  Ara, Cynthia, Phen, Rosette, Malou , Fler & . . .

Myrna Ferriol Verdudazo

The pie, the baker, and the celebrator

Cynthia, Malou & Phen together with the apple pie . . .

Ara... seriously listening to Malou's story about fortune telling while Phen is busy looking as her palms . . .

hayan na....looking for the life lines and treasure lines...

the celebrator sharing her "unexected calls"  during her birthday

My take-home apple pie 

Being biased towards the fruitcake, I tasted it first and so with the others.  Everyone who took a slice of it said nothing but . . . ANG SARAP!   And truly, it was!  As I have posted in my FB status,  it must have been baked with so much love  that made it taste so  different from the rest.    I am quite aware that fruitcakes are not baked instantly for it to taste good.  It takes months to work on the ingredients (as Rosette claimed it, the glazed fruits were dipped in wine for almost a year ).    

Rosette was more than willing to share her recipe especially to Cynthia who wishes to bake some for herself.  Likewise, she has no plans of commercializing her products at the moment. The celebration ended with a raffle of one box of apple pie  who fortunately went to the celebrator and I won the last few slices of the fruitcake  ( as I have prayed for ).

We had the best sellers in Mann Hann that night and we had the best apple pie and fruitcake in town. Much more, we had the best company that we had missed for soooooo long  (Thanks to FB!)

Maybe later, when Rosette retires, she will bake her fruitcakes and apples pies for business. And if ever Cynthia will finally come up with her own masterpiece ,   by then,  fruitcakes and apples pies will be for sale to everyone.  But the friendship that we have for each other will never be sold.  It will always be for keeps . . . forever!

HAVE A FRUITFUL  2013  FRIENDS!