Skip to content

Family Celebrations

On the Day of the Unborn, my daughter’s 25th birthday

We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, killings, of wars, or of hatred…If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other? – Mother Teresa

pro-life

As countries across the globe observe the Day of the Unborn Child today (it is Day of Unborn in Manila) , I will be celebrating the 25th birthday of Lauren , my eldest daughter. I don’t understand why the Catholic church here in the Philippines calls it the “Day of the Unborn” which pretty much sounds like some creepy horror movie like the “Undead”.

Those against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill say they are pro-life and label RH advocates like me as “evil” or pro-abortion.

Well, hear ye.

I am pro-life.

I am for the Reproductive Health Bill.

I am pro-life because I believe that all births should be planned and wanted by their parents.

I am pro-life because I don’t believe in abortion except for special cases e.g. mother dying of high blood pressure

I am pro-life because I believe women do not have to die during childbirth.

Read More »On the Day of the Unborn, my daughter’s 25th birthday

Meet my sister, the new vice-mayor

Who would have thought my beautiful and smart sister, Myrna would now be appointed vice-mayor of her city in California ? (She won a seat in the council last November 2010. The mayor and vice mayor are appointed by fellow council members)

Did it even occur to our family that she’d dabble with politics?

sister-won

Nuh-uh. If you asked me who among my siblings would have made it to politics, Myrna would be the last in my list.

Back in our college days in the state university, she was the least politically inclined among the siblings. Myrna with her frail, petite features seemed too fragile to fight it out in street rallies. Lorna, my eldest sister was an activist, cut short when my dad threatened to bring her back home to Cebu. It was the same predicament with me too. I then chose to be active in campus politics, being safe from arrests. Ruben. my brother was a photographer for the Collegian and was even brought to jail for taking shots of a police tearing down a poster. The youngest sister though not as politically inclined was a leader in her college organizations.
Read More »Meet my sister, the new vice-mayor

Cheers to a New Year 2011, another chance to get it right

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” T. S. Eliot

new-year-2011Despite the challenges that our country face in 2011, I am excited of the possibilities and eager to start things rocking and shaking. Around 15 minutes before 2011 came in, Butch and I ate our traditional media noche such as our bam-i, a Cebuano noodle dish for long life, buko fruit salad, embutido, and sparkling juice.
Read More »Cheers to a New Year 2011, another chance to get it right

Flashback 2010: A good year that was

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” – By Hal Borland
singapore-new-year
Lauren views Singapore cityscape December 31, 2010

Tonight’s New Year’s Eve celebration is the first time that our children are away from home. It will just be the two of us. Butch and me, well the two cats and my trusted two helpers. The last couple of days were rough on us especially the cancelled family vacation to Singapore, my surgery and being away from my kids for the first time in my life. Yet all that is in the past.

I will affirm the good things for the New Year 2011. I will offer a prayer, wait and expect good things to happen to me and my loved ones. Whenever I wonder what is coming, I tell myself the best is coming, the very best love and life have to offer, the best God has to send. I open my hands to receive to claim it and it’s mine.

I see the best in my mind and envision what it will look and feel like. Then I let it go without obsessing over it. Instead I become excited and express gratitude for all that I have achieved this year, all that I am and for all that I will become.

I am thankful for all the blessings for the year 2010…

1. Having the opportunity to interview 7 presidential candidates and empowering myself to understand the electoral process by being in it rather than just being an observer.

presidential-candidates

2. Getting a part-time contract to work with Vibal Foundation as their associate editor for the features section of the Philippine Online Chronicles. It is my first paid work since I left employment to be a full time mother in 1987. (I always thought companies stopped finding you useful when you reach over 40. I should know. I tried getting a job.)

with-vibal-foundation

3. A siblings’ reunion in San Francisco, in happier times, not funerals. I miss them a lot. We are so close even if we are continents apart.

my-family

Read More »Flashback 2010: A good year that was

My husband’s surprise gift

All of us have had the experience of a sudden joy that came when nothing in the world had forewarned us of its coming – a joy so thrilling that if it was born of misery we remembered even the misery with tenderness. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

lavallier-pendant

That’s not the surprise gift yet, well almost..

Butch and I promised not to give each other expensive Christmas presents because of the planned holiday trip to Singapore. We told each other “Let’s just shop there”. As most of you know, that did not happen. I still gave him a token gift, you know something to open, having that element of surprise and wonder during Christmas day. He had none to give me that day. I know him to be a generous person and I just shrugged it off. Maybe he didn’t have time to shop at the last minute, having to deal with my surgery and taking care of me. While recuperating in the hospital, I only thought of “what could have been..” if we were all together during the holidays. My husband often assured me there will be more family vacations so to “just get well”. I kept my optimism high, letting only positivity reign my life and focused on my recovery.

Read More »My husband’s surprise gift

My daughters’ Christmas Greetings via Skype Video Call

christmas-via-skype

I am sure I am not alone in using Skype to greet family members. Family members in different parts of the world would want to be together but are unable to. Skype has brought a new level in Christmas traditions for those that can’t spend Christmas together. Just a few minutes ago, my daughters (who are right now in Singapore for the holidays) called me up in my hospital room.
Read More »My daughters’ Christmas Greetings via Skype Video Call

Merry Christmas from my hospital room

My heart grows tender with treasured childhood memories and love of family when the Christmas season comes. I believe we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. It is an exciting moment for me.

christmas-in-hospitalEverything was planned at the last minute. My daughter, M based in Australia called me December 10 that she was spending Christmas in Singapore. I entertained the thought of spending it with her too. It was all set. Butch, Lauren and I were booked to leave December 23. I was looking forward for family bonding moments. Things didn’t quite happen the way I envisioned it. On December 22, while on my way to the bank to prepare our dollars for the trip, I felt this excruciating pain in my middle abdomen. To make the long story short, I had an operation on December 23 at 3 PM. I had bilary colic. I knew I had some gallstones in my gallbladder but they were small , and didn’t need immediate surgery. Two small stones lodged in the common bile duct causing my bilirubin, amylase, liver enzymes to skyrocket and the terrible pain. Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy was not possible because the surgeon wanted to run a dye in the biliary tract to trace the stones. The surgery took 3 hours and I was told it was a complicated surgery.

Read More »Merry Christmas from my hospital room

Meralco lights up Christmas for kids from 1 to 92

Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.– Ruth Carter Stapleton

Christmas lights always gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that glows inside for the entire season. It brings me so much joy. Childhood memories of twinkling lights and Christmas carols are enough to lift my spirits during the holiday season. Through the years that I lived in Pasig, the lights in the Meralco compound never fails to mesmerize me as the car passes by.

meralco-christmas-lights2
It never occurred to me that Meralco has been opening its gates to the public for a long time now, giving delight to kids from ages 1 to 92. Yes, not just young kids but kids at heart like me. I didn’t have to think twice being invited together with other bloggers to witness the Christmas lighting tonight.

meralco-christmas-lights6
CEO Manny Pangilinan together with other very important guests marked the lighting event. For Meralco, lighting up their Ortigas compound symbolizes the light of Jesus Christ whose coming to the world brings joy and hope to the young and old.
Read More »Meralco lights up Christmas for kids from 1 to 92

Gratitude is the memory of the heart

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

gratitude-rainbowspiral1

I am right now in Cebu. I am beginning to love this place. There is still something missing about Cebu that makes me sad. Perhaps because I often travel to Cebu just to bury a family member. Just when I made peace with the deaths of family members, another chaos ensued after a class reunion, then a death of a classmate. Making sense out of a chaotic situation is futile especially if the door is shut in front of you.

A conversation from a dear friend tonight jolted me out of chaos when she said that “there are more important relationships that need responding to just like what you have just done; gving comfort to parents who lost a child.”
Read More »Gratitude is the memory of the heart

About

a mom blogger who advocates constructive engagement in issues on family & society.
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Spotify Podcast

Touch By An Angel © All Rights Reserved.