Alone

Don’t ask me how it might have been, or what it could or should have been like.How different all my days would be if I’d strode securely into public sunlight. More and more I take the sun alone – always at the edge of the clearing, close enough to the wood to crouch low or retreat at ease should the beautiful enemy pass by.

If these pages are so personal and private, why  let them go? There is a chance, however small that some one will read, understand, even stop and turn in my direction.-  Rod McKuen

Don’t mistake it for lack of friends that I can communicate with. Some people think that being alone is only an option and not a choice. There is a saying that goes “you can be alone but not lonely. They are two different things. Being alone is a choice, loneliness is a result of some emotions that made your life miserable.

No one would mind if you drive the wheels of life on a speed or make it a little slow to your liking. I enjoy visiting department stores when I have the opportunity which is not often nowadays. I always search for items that I could give Nissa and Nate on their upcoming birthdays.

No one would mind if you linger at the bookstore to buy another book for Nate or at the kitchen gadget section to choose something for Nissa. Through the years, I bought several items that she can use in the kitchen. I am thinking of giving her the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer which is still new and in its packaging which my brother sent me before. I just use a small one when I do some baking which is seldom now.

No one would mind if you look and try several designs of footwear which sometimes makes the little saleslady frown at you but you only buy one at the end.

I wake up early and prepare breakfast for mom and me. There are times though when Josef and Jovy come home late and I have to wake up to open the front door. So I do another shuteye for an hour or two.

Sometimes I read late into the night and it is always a nice feeling that I don’t disturb anyone. The days are quiet and I love it that way. You won’t need to force yourself with sometimes senseless conversations.

And I repeat, being alone doesn’t mean that you are lonely.

By the way, that nice quote was taken from the book Alone by one of my favorite poets Rod McKuen. I saw it one time at my foray at Booksale, a nice addition to another book I have of him entitled Seasons in the Sun.

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My 700th Blog After 29 Months Of Blogging

Reposting this blog I wrote back in November 3, 2011. Most of you here were not yet my friends then but I had a few followers I lost touch with over the years.

When I look back at the times that I felt so down, writing my thoughts on paper helped me to cope, a sort of  catharsis for me since I found out I had Stage 3 colon cancer. It was not a walk in the park  but faith , prayers and love of friends and family made me realize  that when you have all these, you have enough. When you believe that you will get well, you will. And when you believe that God is by your side, He is.

So this is my 700th blog according to WordPress. Since they have introduced letting bloggers know which post was magnificent, grand, dandy, splendid, sensational, fabulous,far-out, groovy, slick, superb, super, wohoo, way-out and all the other positive words they say about a current blog post, I’ve recorded every word count and which post describes all those words. It’s kind of fun to know what word they will use to describe what you have just posted. At the start of the year, I was in a quandary whether to take part in the Post A Day Challenge 2011. I asked myself, “will I be able to do that, write and blog everyday the whole year of 2011? “ Two more months to go and I will be able to say, “I did it.” And George S. Patton was right when he said and I quote: Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.

I was reviewing my earlier blogs this morning and I was smiling like crazy thinking, I was a little emotional in some of them but who cares, it’s the process of writing that heals you. And I would like to share a list of at least twenty-five top-rated blogs that I wrote in a span of twenty-nine months. They are not exactly my favorites since there are other blogs which I like better than some of them,  echoing what I feel and describing the true “me”. But the following are my most read, obviously for the simple reason that they frequently appear even if I wrote them a year or almost two years ago. You are welcome to read through my search box since I don’t exactly remember  when they were published here.

1. Homepage
2. The Early Bird Catches The Worm But the Second Mouse Gets The Cheese
3. UAAP Season 73 (University of Santo Tomas)
4. Friendship Quotes
5. Soulmates, Karma, Reincarnation
6. Unang Taon, Ulat Sa Bayan Ni PNoy (June 30, 2011)
7. Happy Birthday MAMA MARY
8. Dapitan Arcade (A Shopper’s Delight)
9. It’s Why I Love It
10. University of Santo Tomas at 400
11. On Meeting Dr. Samuel Ang Again
12. The Aquino Grandchildren And My Own Memories of Ninoy
13. Bank Of The Philippine Islands, Let’s Make It Easy
14. Suha,Lukban, Grapefruit, Pomelo
15. The Famous Transfiguration Chapel – Caleruega, Philippines
16. Oh, Oh!
17. Quotes To Live By
18. It’s Kung Pao Chicken Pasta For Dinner
19. Some Tidbits On Pres. Noynoy’s Inauguration
20. Moringa Juice
21. Sioma-making, A Great Feat For A Six-Year Old
22. Celebrating 400th Year (University of Santo Tomas)
23. Meeting Manuel Baldemor, A World-Renowned Artist
24. New Life, New Hope, New Beginning
25. Special Palabok

Thank you all for visiting my blog and leaving lovely comments. Hooray to blogging! And WordPress says, this blog is wonderful😀

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Thank God It’s Friday

When you have all these, you are rich beyond measure.

Culled from sketches and stillness!

Yeay, family comes first. When you can’t rely on no one, your family will always be there by your side. So grateful for having a caring, kind and loving family🫂

Good friends will always be there to lift you up when you’re feeling low, they will listen to you without judgment. Just being by your side is quite enough.

Hugs, laughter, happy memories. They make life meaningful. They keep you going when you have far to go. They always say that laughter is the best medicine.

Sleep. This is one thing that I lack sometimes. Last night, I was in bed at 7pm. I didn’t even finish praying the rosary. I woke up at 1am still clutching my rosary and my hands smelled of roses. Yes, it was one of those gifts I received from a friend when our grotto was blessed after my chemotherapy almost thirteen years ago. It is a rose rosary. By the way, I collect rosaries and alternately use them in prayers. I have one from Sienna, two from Jerusalem, one from the Vatican, another two from Rome, some bracelet and ring rosaries from friends abroad but the one I use most is the bracelet rosary from Josef. It is always on my arms when I go out. Back when Nissa, Josef and I were still making rosaries, I made one for myself out of pink quartz crystals. When our friend Fr. Aly came over, I have some of them blessed. Most of them though were already blessed when friends gave them to me.

Truly, the best things in life are free.😘🥰😉🌹🌻🌱🎉🎈🎊

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Lovely, Lovely, Lovely

Imagine meeting a friend again after more than twelve years, online that is.

One of my friends Ruvie tagged me yesterday about a photo I posted twelve years ago during our reunion at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) library where I spent three years of college life as a working student. I posted it on my wall and said I miss those days with colleagues and books of course. A friend on Facebook messaged me that he knows one of the guys in the picture, they were batchmates in Naga Parochial school in Bicol.

Mon and I were both assigned at the Asian Section of the UST Main Library for almost two years. He took up an engineering course while I majored in Economics. The last time we saw each other was in the year 2010. The reunion is held every ten years but I was not able to attend the reunion last 2020 because of the pandemic. We are friends again on Facebook….haha but how lovely.

Today is the presbyteral ordination of one of my SSP friends which I was not able to attend because of my early appointment with my internist. I was looking at some photos on his wall but it was not updated yet so I visited their page called Sambuhay. It’s a page created by the Paulinian priests and brothers at Society of Saint Paul. Two years ago, two friends and I had this Sambuhay Interaktib group based on the regular program they hold every week. Imagine my surprise when I saw various blog posts I shared with the Sambuhay Interaktib posted at their own page Sambuhay. I am one of the admins of Sambuhay Interaktib so time and again I share my writings. How lovely to look back at all the reflections I shared with them.

My internist said I will be back come January 5 next year, great, I’ll have enough rest with doctor appointments and lab tests although I ‘m going to visit my ENT on Monday.

Have a nice and lovely weekend everyone😉❤️😘

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Reading Updates

I appreciate that I found the Goodreads app a few years ago. Based on my virtual library there, I have read around 1, 616 books. I’ve participated in their Goodread’s challenge the past six years. I am about 80% done with my challenge this year finishing 120 books so far out of 150 books I committed myself to read.

I just recently read The Tumor by John Grisham. A short take about malignant brain tumor, a far cry from the usual subjects he writes about. It is a fictional account of how a real, new medical technology could revolutionize the future of medicine by curing with sound – a focused ultrasound. I also found a new author in the person of Kathleen Grisson called Glory Over Everything, a historical book when Negros were sold as slaves in America. It’s an e-book that kept me glued. Though some fictions are historical, they are probably based on research about those earlier years.

Think about having wagons instead of cars as means of transportation. I have just started Water for Elephants, a popular book that I keep postponing to read.

There is a Goodreads page on Facebook and that’s where I find titles I am curious to read. Sometimes, there are many short reviews about one particular book that I have read before or some titles that I have seen for the first time.

Reading is such a wonderful hobby, it takes you to places you haven’t been to.

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Thursday, Is it?

Gosh, this rain never stops. That kind where you could not even go out and garden. Frustration, big time.

I recently found a copy of MARGOT by Jillian Cantor, an e-book. Reading it now. Margot is the older sister of Anne Frank if you are familiar with the latter’s diary. They both died during the holocaust.

MARGOT is the “what if” story though of this older sister, an engaging and interesting read. What if she was alive? She changed her name to Margie Franklin and worked as a secretary in a law firm in Philadelphia. Anne and Margot both kept diaries when they were hiding during the second world war. You’ll find how they lived during those times. I am still in the middle of reading it.

When I find a book that deals with history, fiction or not, I just can’t put it down.

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Morning Thoughts

Someday perhaps we will meet each other again,

We’ll sit by the fire and reminisce

Those lovely days of old while drinking hot cups of coffee.

We’ll laugh how it was then,

The innocence of youth,

How insecured we were.

Trying to find that elusive thing – happiness.

We’ve gone a long way now,

Counting the grays in our hair

But the essence of friendship remains.

Ah, it is beautiful🌻

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You’ll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark

At the end of a storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone”

This song has been running in my head since last night. I was reading The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon but this kept intruding.

It was Frank Sinatra who originally sang it, recorded it back in 1945. That long? Wow! I actually love the lyrics. It is not just about walking with friends and family but there is someone up there who’ll never let you walk alone.

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There Are Three

As soon as the door opens,

She does cartwheels

Then reach out her two front paws

She wants a cuddle

That’s our lovely Cookie.

Oreo comes next

Burying his head on my lap

A few back rubs is enough.

Noki gets jealous at times

He wags his tail

But Oreo barks at him

A bigger dog that he is

He just keeps quiet

Trying to say, “give me a few moments please”.

When it’s just the two us

He raises his four paws

Up in the air

Swooning over a few touches.

They say dogs are man’s best friends

Certainly, I do agree.

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Falling In Love?

And I don’t mean the romantic love that we all know and talk about.

Have you ever felt that certain kind of happiness that makes you smile every time you remember?  There are certain things in our lives, certain things that cost so little or none at all that make those smile painted on our faces.

I fall in love with a baby’s smiles and laughter. Those unguarded moments when he/she smiles at you and reach out his/her hands to touch, to feel, to make his/her self comfortable in your arms.

I fall in love with sunrises and sunsets. The wonder of the rising sun gently caressing your back and the beauty of the sunset signaling you to just admire it and take a rest. The beauty of an unexpected rainbow on a cloudy day. Those clouds passing by in a rapid move and you wonder what they’ll bring, rain or a glimmer of the sun’s face.

I fall in love with lovely surprises, kindness from people I have just met and thoughtful friends who never  fail to make you smile. Even meeting them once in a while, listening to their voices over the wire,  hugging and embracing them when you see each other.

Morning coffee or  tea at night while reading a lovely book and you fall in love with the characters and the place. And you wish you’ll attain the same success as they did in the story.

The heady scent of flowers in your garden  and the peace and quiet gardening brings. You fall in love with creating a lovely panorama of different plants, the wonderful feeling it brings to your quiet world.

The undivided attention you get from your pets.  The way they lick your face and your hands showing unconditional love and the non-judgmental  way they look at you. They bring so much joy within.

I fall in love with the music of yesteryears.  The nostalgic way you hum  a song because you have memorized the lyrics over the years.  The way you swing your head to the music, smiling and at peace listening and remembering those years that gave you joy.

Ah, I could go on and on but I’ll reserve them for another post. Have a great day everyone. Think happy thoughts always.

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