TWO WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS

Weew! This feels weird. I don't know what to write after a month of absence in the blogosphere.

A mentor from Australia dropped by my house on his way to Bontoc. Over breakfast, he asked me what have I been doing and I said: "Well, when I got back from Manila at the end of August, we went to a funeral of an uncle, then the next week, we prepared for the wedding of my brother. And then the third week, I was busy making wedding invitations for my cousin and then after that, my great grandfather passed away at 98 and so we attended a series of vigils until he was buried last Thursday, the 4th."

So yes, I realized that I did nothing the whole month of September but prepare for funerals and weddings except for the day when I was in the hospital with my sister. I doubt anyone likes being in a hospital even if just to watch over loved ones. With my past hospital experiences, you would think that I would be used to it at the least; the smell, the sense of illness all around, grumpy nurses, aids that ask nothing but how many times you emptied your kidneys or moved your bowels! I found out I am not immune. My youngest sister was rushed to the hospital for a suspected food poisoning. She had corned beef for breakfast and after half an hour she complained of severe abdominal pain and was retching her gut out. The stress in turn triggered her asthma. After she was stabilized, I took out my pc and tried to work. It was a bad idea. We were sandwiched in between a lady with a typhoid fever and another with a dengue and the mosquitoes were freely hopping around from skin to skin. I got so paranoid about the dengue that when I saw that my sister can manage to go to the bathroom on her own, I left her at a quarter and a half hour past 3 in the morning and walked home. That was a bit scary. It was a half hour walk under the shadows of big acacia trees. I guessed I feared the dengue mosquitoes more than the lurking shadows.

October came silently for me. My friends and I retreated to the mountains last weekend to fast and pray. It was a refreshing time both spiritually and physically. You should try it some time. :)

I learned that:

When you promised three year olds something, do it right away. My mom told my 3 year-old niece that she'll visit her the next day. When she saw her after a week, my niece came to her slowly and looking up, she, in all sweetness and innocence, said: "Adtoy met gayam ni lola, kunak no natay kan!" (Poor grandma, she almost had a heart attack upon hearing that:)

God has a sense of humor. My sister was on her last penny for the month so she has been praying so fervently. She had 7 pieces of 5 pesos coins and went to check if her stipend for the month is already in the bank. On the way, she told her friends that she misses the paper bills and would very much like to hold one in her hand. At the bank, they checked their balances and found out that the money is yet to be deposited. It's good that one of them has a 500-peso balance from the last month and they withdrew that. Her friend bought something on the way and happened to have no change. She borrowed Sarah's 5-peso coins. Back in the house, Sarah's friend returned her money. There was one 20-peso bill.

When you set ground rules for your children, make it a point to tell them what applies and does not apply to you. They expect you to obey all the rules yourself. Also, don't borrow money from your children. When I came back from Manila, I was gushing about Prison Break too much that my brother got curious and borrowed my DVD. He got hooked and watched it continuously taking only meal and CR breaks during one weekend. His 7 year old son Giel, for fun, is allowed to harvest ripe guavas instead of having his eyes glued to the TV screen all the time. He and his friends harvest guavas (sells at P3-5 a kilo) before and after school, and weekends. During that weekend, my sis in law took the change that my nephew earned that morning and replace it with a paper bill to buy a bundle of petchay. At lunch, Giel grumbled and said: "Hayyy, awan ti maitultulong ni daddy! Mangan, agbuya, omisbo, agbuya manen! Siyak ti agtartrabaho'd toy nga balay!"

Lastly, when blog readers and blogger friends ask you to write again, don't tell them to leave you alone! For all you know, your internet connection will also leave you (as in a lightning will hit your modem) until you repent of your sins! :) Take it from me.

Cheers!