Touched by An Angel

12Jul 2016

Happy Water, Sad Water: A Story To Prepare Kids for Floods and The Aftermath.

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ Leave a Comment

How do we explain natural disasters to our children, and how do we fulfill our role to protect and nurture them? In two natural disasters, I was not home to comfort my children. I remember the strong earthquake in 1990 that struck Northern Luzon and also affected Metro Manila. My children were below four years old then. As the earth shook beneath me, I could only think of my two children left behind at home with their caregivers in Pasig. Were they traumatized?

The two girls didn’t seem terrified but in the next few days, one daughter scribbled what seemed like an earthquake scenario. I took it as a sign that she wanted to express her experience. Speaking to her calmly, I explained that earthquakes cannot be predicted but I will do all my best to keep everyone safe. To give assurance, I initiated earthquake drills at home and showed them the earthquake kit by the door.

Can you imagine the children affected by floods such as the Yolanda (Haiyan) disaster? There are many ways to help them deal with tragedy such as art therapy, play, or reading a book.

And there is Read for Hope. Read for Hope started as an outreach activity in response to the Yolanda tragedy in Tacloban, Leyte in 2014. The team, composed of young professionals from Metro Manila, gave aid in the form of a mobile library and post-trauma relief to the students of Cabuynan Elementary School located in Tanauan, Leyte. In 2015, the team extended its activities in Guiuan, Samar with a Resiliency and Leadership Seminar for High School Students and Basic Computer Literacy Program for teachers.

During their first trip to Tacloban last May 2014, they talked and played with the kids recovering from the trauma of Yolanda . The children used to love taking a bath in the middle of a hot day and they enjoyed playing in the rain and they loved to swim at the beaches nearby. They could do it all day every day like normal kids do. But when the Read of Hope were there, the children were scared. Scared of the slightest downpour. Terrified by thunder and lightning. Traumatized to even go near the beach. This experience inspired them to write a book.

It came up with this story book, entitled Happy Water, Sad Water: A Story To Prepare Kids for Floods and The Aftermath. The group got inspired to help them overcome this fear. Inspired to share their story so we can all learn from their experience. It aims to raise awareness for the environmental effects of global warming and climate change among children today and at the same time raise funds for the group’s upcoming efforts.

The e-storybook aims to raise funds for the reconstruction of the library in Sulangan Central School, Guian, Eastern Samar on August 25-28, 2o16. (Learn more about their past efforts here.)

The e-storybook is priced at P300, but any amount of donation will do. Read more on how you can help.

11Jul 2016

Why my husband married a bitch

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 14 Comments

(updated) A friend wondered why my husband married me in the first place. I laughed. Without batting an eyelash, I smiled “because I am a bitch. Maldita!”

$Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman\'s Guide to Winning Her Man\'s Heart$ They say that it starts in courtship. In the book, “Why Men Marry Bitches“, Ms. Argov says it is true “men love to chase women” and we must let them do that. I’ve never read the book but I have my own definition of being a “bitch”. Oh how I remember how I played hard to get just so Butch would suffer. I even had another suitor just to show him that he’s not the only guy in this world. At that time, Butch had a girlfriend but dumped her when he started courting me. (I later found out it was the girl who pursued him). After three months of wooing me, we became steadies for 7 years before tying the knot. Even though he was still at Law School, I told him this: “if we don’t intend to marry on our 7th year, I’m moving to the States with my sister. ”

We married on our 7th year.
My definition of “bitch” is not one who is nagger, or a war-freak wife. I am neither demanding or mean. The book describes the “bitch” as ” a strong woman who has her own identity and is secure with who she is.” I don’t know how the other bitches in the world work. I define myself as a passionate, loving , loyal wife who will fight for her man , her family and her marriage . When threat prevails, the bitch in me will find ways to curtail it. Lately I established family relationship boundaries and that’s when havoc occurs. My methods may come out offensive or abrasive in a world where one is not used to confrontation or honest exchange of communication.

Whenever my sisters and their spouses are in town for a reunion, we tease our husbands that they can now commence their support group. I don’t know if my husband is traumatized whenever I am in my “bitch mode”.

So why did my husband marry a “bitch”?

I have no idea so I send an instant message . His reply:

Yes, that’s life. He can’t explain it.

27Jun 2016

Tips to Keep Your Health and Wallet Healthy

by webs ⋅ Leave a Comment

The saying ‘health is wealth’ is common to us. A good health is a treasure by itself especially nowadays with the emergence of new diseases and the rising medical costs.

It is also known to us that when we’re young, we usually sacrifice our health to earn wealth. However, as we age and grow old, it’s the other way around. We usually sacrifice our wealth in order to regain back our health. Read More →

19Jun 2016

It takes a special person to be a dad

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 1 Comment

There are two special dads in my life.

My dad who I often call, daddy ole boy and my husband, the dad of my three children.

There is this quote about questions we ask our dads in various stages of our life. I only had my dad till I was 45 years old.

4 years: My Daddy can do anything!
7 years: My Dad knows a lotÃ¢â‚¬Â¦a whole lot.
8 years: My father does not know quite everything.
12 years: Oh well, naturally Father does not know that either.
14 years: Oh, Father? He is hopelessly old-fashioned.
21 years: Oh, that man-he is out of date!
25 years: He knows a little bit about it, but not much.
30 years: I must find out what Dad thinks about it.
35 years: Before we decide, we will get Dad’s idea first.
50 years: What would Dad have thought about that?
60 years: My Dad knew literally everything!
65 years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.

It’s true. I often wonder what my dad would have thought of my work today. He never knew me as a blogger because he passed away in 2003 just three years before I started blogging. Much of who I am today is because of dad . Even the way I smile is from his “wide-smile genes”.

Daddy didn’t tell me how to live life. He lived and let me watch him do it. He tried to be a mother to us when mom died during my teens. I adored my dad so much that I thought husbands were made like my dad. I was so wrong. A lot of my early marital problems was because I compared my husband to dad. Hehe, I think my husband also compared me to his sweet mom. Eventually, I learned to treat these two dads as separate individuals.

In honor of my dad, I started signing as Noemi Lardizabal-Dado in 2006. I feel the presence of my dad in the wide smiles of my two lovely girls and in my work. I can just imagine my dad smiling at me as I do service to others.

There is the dad of my three beautiful children who sometimes acts more like a mother at times. How he nurtures them especially when they are sick and spoils them by driving the girls around. I wonder what my girls think of their dad. Do they think he is too old-fashioned? or just being a dad? I hope they know he is just being a dad.

These days, it is an empty nest but the father of my three children took time to bet with my two girls here in Singapore. Being together no matter how short the stay , is enough to make us happy.

Today is that special day to honor the two special dads in my life and to all the active committed fathers who make a lasting difference in the life of a child.

14Jun 2016

Five secrets about me that you probably don’t know

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ 2 Comments

A few years ago, I was tagged to write a “Disclosure meme” on five secrets about me that you probably don’t know. I might have blogged about some of these secrets in past entries but let me just list them down.

1. Annoyance over habitual latecomers– I am such a stickler for time that it annoys me off when people arrive ONE HOUR late without any notice. It’s common decency to advise the other party or whoever is waiting for you on your estimated time of arrival. I’m fine if you’re late as long as I know beforehand so I can do something with my time.

2. Fear of dentist– I’ve had this fear ever since I had profuse bleeding when my molar was pulled out.

3. Handy woman– I can climb on the roof of my house (then a bungalow) and repair roof leaks. I can also fix leaking pipes and electric wiring. But….I probably made my husband feel inferior when I did all that during our first year of marriage. Since I broke my ankle 11 years ago, I have not attempted to climb roofs. I still do handy woman jobs.

4. Lazy cook– I only cook on special occasions or birthdays. During the first ten years of my married life, I trained all the maids to cook , even the yaya (caregiver). I trained them to read recipes as well. After a few years, they turned out to be better cooks than I am so I let them do the cooking now. I posted my recipes at pinoyfoodblog.com . One or two loved baking so I also taught them to bake. These days, I write the recipe, give instructions and then taste their cooking if it’s alright. Haha, lazy.

5. Fear of driving in high places– Driving near the Tagaytay ridge or towards Baguio City makes me throw up. High places just nauseates me. I once drove to Tagaytay but my eyes focused straight ahead not looking once at the deep ridge.

So now you know. What about you?

06Jun 2016

Money for life: Leaving a legacy

by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado ⋅ Leave a Comment

It’s that stage in my life where I am an empty nester. My two girls are now financially independent and not living in the family home anymore. It is that stage in my life when I am preparing for my golden years…not retirement because I will never retire. Life is so much fun being a blogger. These days, one can still continue work and yet enjoy life at the same time using online opportunities. My goals are income, wealth and protection.