Three Books Only?

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

Why are you just limiting them to three?

I have read 1,703 books since I put up my virtual library at Goodreads in 2011 but those earlier ones I read when I was in college and the earlier years since I had an early retirement were not counted. You won’t believe this but my three favorite books are mostly stories for children. I could not count the times I have read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It is a quick read but the words of wisdom written there are quite priceless. It is one of the most meaningful books I ever read, a thought-provoking one. One other book that I used to treasure (my tattered copy was lost in the flood wayback in 2009) is the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. I started giving it as a gift when Nissa was just learning to read. Most of my friends’ kids and my godchildren have received a copy from me. Imagine having it in print for more than a century now. A gentle and heartwarming story for kids but for adults as well. And the third one is Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. It is an allegorical fable in novella form about a seagull who is trying to learn how to fly. Follow your heart and make your own rules. You don’t have to live within your limits, the quest for excellence can be achieved if you believe that you can do it. These three books left impacts on me through the years, those kind of books that you want to read again and again.

Of course, I couldn’t leave my favorite authors behind. Richard Paul Evans is also a friend at FB, I have most of his books except the Michael Vey series. They are all hardbound and worth-keeping, simple stories that are full of lessons. Yeay for Mary Oliver. A friend gifted me with a harbound copy of her book Devotions which was published before she died. I have four more of hers. And for those novels about life, Rosamunde Pilcher tops the rest and Kristin Hannah too. There was a time when I got so engrossed reading the works of Leon Uris. His books were my initiation to historical fiction. I loved the court scenes in his popular book QB VII. I also love Robin Cook‘s medical thrillers. I could go on and on but I feel so sleepy now.

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What Is Friendship?

What quality do you value most in a friend?

She saw it

It just started to bloom,

And it seems to be saying

‘Come join me here.’

And she did and enjoyed the lovely scent.

Friendship bloomed.

I could no longer count the times I wrote about friendship and what it means to me personally. When you could be as you are with a person, no pretense, no hiding behind walls and bridges, accepting everything warts and all, then I call it true friendship. You cry bearing the weight of the world on your shoulders and your friend is there besides you just holding your hand, that is true friendship.

I seem to be using more of the daily prompt. It is easier to write when you have at least a topic to think about. I finally found an easier way to use my hearing aid every day instead of removing it and putting it back again when I take a bath or doing some chores that I need to do every morning like sweeping the yard or cleaning the house. I do them first before I put on my hearing aids so I could use them without interruption. I am on my second day of an eight-hour adjustment. After a week, I could go outside with my hearing aid on.

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I Was A Unibanker

What jobs have you had?

Gosh, it is almost a week now since I last posted here and visited some posts. I feel like it is almost a month without visiting WordPress. No reason is valid enough except that I got engrossed reading and did a bit of gardening too. The weather here is so hot that you can’t just go out and do some errands. Good thing my next lab tests would be on June 21 (which happens to be Josef’s birthday), check-up with my endocrinologist on June 24 and back to Manila Hearing Aid Center for follow-up and check-up on June 25th.

What jobs have I had?

I was a working scholar wayback in college. Stayed at the UST Main Library for almost three years. Quit the job when my major course which was Economics demanded so much time for research and feasibility studies. Four months after my college graduation, I was accepted at the bank where I used to work for more than twenty years. When you are enjoying your job, you won’t think of transferring to another company. Bank of the Philippine Islands I am proud to say is the oldest bank in our country. It was established in 1851. It has lots of perks – quarterly bonuses, paid holidays, converted vacation leaves paid in cash and uniform allowance every year. Employees were allowed to own a miniscule part of the bank through its stock options. That taught me to invest in another bank by buying stocks too.

I would have stayed longer if we didn’t encounter problems with househelps. I have to quit to take care of my two kids. I didn’t regret it though because watching them grow up to be responsible, generous, thoughtful and loving kids were blessings enough.

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If I…..

Who would you like to talk to soon?

All my friends whom I haven’t seen and heard of for a long time now. We do get in touch occasionally but it is different when you are physically present.

I’d like to talk to my dad and my brother too. I keep dreaming about them that they are still here with us. I remember the memories, the stories, my lovely conversations with dad, the lessons learned along the way.

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Easy Answers

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

Right at this moment, my set of hearing aid, my tabs and my books. Perfect opportunity to just stay put and read.

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It Is About Love

What sacrifices have you made in life?

I guess I won’t really call them sacrifice because I’ve done everything for the love of my family especially my kids.

Back in 1987, the ex-hubby went abroad to seek greener pastures. Nissa just started kindergarten and Josef just turned three. I was still working at the bank back then. We survived through careful planning through the help of two household helpers, one for the kids and the other one an all-around help. Almost every other year we would change helpers with my parents looking for reliable ones in the province. We had one for only a week and it turned out she was a thief. She took my necklace and wristwatch then suddenly decided to go home. My sis-in-law has seen her wearing both and when she confronted her, she denied it. I became wary of getting helpers who were not related to us. A cousin and an aunt stayed with us the longest time.

There was a time that we could no longer find reliable househelp so there was no option for me but to avail of an early retirement at the bank in the year 2000. Nissa has just started college and Josef was in high school. For so many years, I was their tatay con nanay (father and mother both). Although it was a bit hard staying at home and doing all the chores, we survived. My kids grew to be responsible individuals and they tried their best to succeed in their studies with both of them being honors students – Josef until high school and Nissa graduating Magna Cum Laude in college with a degree of BA Communication Arts. She is now a Senior Manager at the bank where I used to work. Josef is with JP Morgan Chase. He finished ECE.

As I’ve said, taking care of them and teaching them good values about life was not really a sacrifice. I am so glad that I have my own rewards, seeing them successful in their own careers.

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Ah!

What public figure do you disagree with the most?

I’ll keep it short – the present admin of this country and all his cohorts.

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My Community, My Friends

What do you do to be involved in the community?

Define community!

Loosely defined, it may mean a group of people living in the same place or having particular characteristics in common. It may also mean a feeling of fellowship with others, with common interest and attitude that bind you together.

Thirteen years ago, I met a Dominican priest through Facebook. We met via UST.tv which is no longer in existence now. He saw that I am a friend of Lovell so he invited me to be a temporary admin of a Catholic page called Apostles Filipino Catholic Community which he put up. We personally met when he came back from Rome and had two meetings/ gatherings with some of our members at Bahay Dominiko. After a few months he made me a permanent admin. That started online communications with the group and when some of them came home for vacation, they came over to meet me. A whole day is not enough, we had repeated gatherings here at home. There were the crying sessions we had, some of them opening up with their family problems. Fr. Louie, our chief administrator was so happy about the turn -out of our membership through the page. He changed the name to The Filipino Catholic, we are three admins manning the site. We post daily Bible readings and masses online, reflections, inspirational quotes and some Catholic links which are helpful to our members. At present we have more than 133,000 members.

During the pandemic, the Society of St. Paul created an hour- online program called Sambuhay Interaktib which is aired live twice a week. It is still ongoing until now. One can participate through live discussions and comments. I used to share some of my reflections back then until I had this ear infection and I could no longer understand the three priests manning the program. Sometimes I could not understand everything. They create games, topics of the night and Bible quotes. Believe me, priests and seminarians are good singers too. Fr. Pao always called me their resident poet before. Met some of them last year, priests and seminarians both and we had a good exchange of thoughts and conversations mostly about books we have read. Eventually, we have this group on Facebook but it is private, by invites only and I am one of the admins too. I am enjoying posting there. Sometimes I share my earlier posts and some members asked me to keep sharing.

There you go, my Catholic community and I am happy about it.

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Yes

Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?

Back in college since I started serious reading (I mean not the typical romance stories that I read during high school), I started collecting quotes in most of the books I read and I had three full notebooks of them but what stick to my mind are these words from Reinhold Niebuhr, who is said to be an American theologian.

It simply means letting go of situations beyond your control and taking actions toward things within your control.

Years later, I learned that there is more to this quote but I like this short version of it.

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Camping

Have you ever been camping?

Goodness gracious, at my age, I haven’t experienced it yet. Am I missing something here? Lately though, I have been fascinated watching camping trips on videos on Facebook. Rain or shine, thunderstorms, winter scene, you name it, I’ve watched them all. Is it a lonely pursuit being alone in the forest or with your dog tagging along? Maybe it is a challenge for campers bringing their heavy camping gear and everything that goes with it. But maybe for the peace and tranquility that one experiences doing it, it is a good thing. Having those fancy equipments must be expensive though. One enjoys nature no matter the circumstances, right?

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