From Media? , the staff of Amor Maclang asked.
No, I’m a blogger as I wrote down my name on the registration sheet of the Wagyu Beef Fest at the Diamond Hotel during lunch today.
Handing me my name tag with the media label underneath my name seemed strange. Shouldn’t it be “new media”? Then I began to question my arrival at the hotel. What am I doing here in an media event where I will be amongst traditional media people?
For those who have been reading my blog for the longest time now, I refer to my second daughter as M. I think I have mentioned before how M is such a private person, opting to keep a private blog for her close friends. She used to own two domains during her high school years. Her blog had amazing and original graphics. In fact , she churned out new designs every week. Quite a prolific web designer. I begged her to design customized headers for my blog and even willing to pay for it. I remember teaching her Adobe Photoshop basics when she was a pre-teen and she became quite adept at it, more than I could ever be.
It mystified me why she suddenly chose to have a private blog. And then out of the blue, the mystery is over.
I wished I had bought something new or had my hair done at the salon for our anniversary dinner. Come to think of it, does my husband really care? I don’t think so. Apparently he can’t even tell if I’ve don a new hairstyle or bought a new dress. I can walk past by him with a new dress and he wouldn’t blink an eye. It didn’t matter really because I was bent on celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary with a simple dinner with the girls. It turns out that our day contained a lot of little gifts which I call blessings.
1. The gift of new beginnnings
We finally got the title of our new home on our anniversary day. How symbolic! Yes, the perfect anniversary gift to ourselves. The transfer of the title to our names took forever thanks to corrupt Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officers and other city hall employees who expected grease money to facilitate the papers. Despite the greed and corruption of the government employees , our hearts are filled with gratitute that after going through 6 months of condominium and house hunting and acquiring a housing loan, we finally got the love nest we dreamed of. A new life in our new home. We are open to all the exciting possibilities for change both within and around us.
Photo Hunters theme this week is Childhood and I want to present my daughter, Lauren riding a purple dinosaur at a park in Singapore.
Rubbing my eyes, I thought I saw him hold a breakfast tray . He says “it’s my wedding anniversary gift for you, dear” as he plants a kiss on my forehead. I smile and thought “My husband is so sweet , romantic and thoughtful”. Then he lays the tray on my lap.
“thank you dear. that’s really so sweet. Wait. I need to take a photo for posterity”
I eagerly wait…for the coffee.
I think I have mentioned before that my husband is my co-homemaker . For the past two years, he took over my role in grocery shopping. It’s really sweet of him to shop for me. I don’t mind it one bit because I don’t enjoy grocery shopping. Prices of the goods are quite depressing. I just buy whatever is on the list then leave the supermaket in 45 minutes. One thing has been bugging me the past months. I’ve never understood why it takes my husband more than two hours to shop.
Last sunday, I tagged along with him just to observe his system of shopping. Ah now I understand. If I had studied Butch under my time and motion study, he’d definitely fail .
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This 80/20 rule is more formally known as the Pareto principle, named after it’s founder the Italian economist. Pareto observed that 80 percent of the income in Italy was received by 20% of the people. For [tag]thursday thirteen[/tag], I will list down how the 80-20% rule applies to me, my work and my life.
1. 20% of my clothes in the closet are barely worn.
2. 80% of my sales come from referrals from 20% of my existing customers.
3. 80% of my blog’s google adsense income are derived from 20% of popular keywords (i.e. sex education, losing weight, SM Mall of Asia)
May marks another month , another year for you but May of any year since May 27,2000 reminds me that my son is no longer with me.It will be his 7th death anniversary this year.
So why am I still blabbering about my son? Have I not moved on?
This quote best sums up any parent who have lost their child.
““Death ended your child’s life but not his or her relationship to the family” and ““You give up the old person who was physically connected to a now deceased child and make different connections with your child who has died.”
I received many emails from friends or relatives describing how their bereaved relative or friend doesn’t seem to be moving on because the dead child’s items are still being kept or they still talk about them. Also there are emails from bereaved parents who claim they are often criticized and even ridiculed by others for expressing their continuing love and connection to their dead child.
I maintain a sacred bond with my son which is very vital to my well being. I have these moments when I dream and imagine what my son looks like now. There was even a time that I wanted to attend the Grade 6 graduation ceremony of Luijoe’s classmates last year. I just wanted to see how they look like hoping to catch a glimpse of my son’s face through them. When I learned that a blogger had a 13 year old son, I told her to hug him for me. So yeah, wishful thinking.
My prayers were answered last Sunday , well sort of…
When I hear the girls sighing over their crush , I notice their wistful expression of hope.
But he doesn’t like me mom is a recurring statement that sometimes escape their lips often mixed with a slight hint of sadness.
Sometimes a mere smile or nod gives them that giddy feeling. As a mother, it’s a thrill to watch your children happy over simple joys.
I often tell my 2 girls that happiness is a choice. Yes, it’s alright to mope and feel sad over a breakup or in getting over a crush. Cry if you have to , feel sad or be angry . I tell them ” Sit still, feel the pain, figure out if there’s something you need to do to take care of yourself and then go on with your life.”
One Day Blog Silence in Honor of the victims at Virginia Tech
