precious moments

It's sad but life must go on.

         For the past months I have been dreaming of my teeth falling off twice. I don't know if some of you know or believe but whenever I dream of my teeth falling off, someone in my relatives will die (tinuhuan sa boktot). Distant or within. So when I had the dream I was fricking out. I called mama and she told me to pray. Nanay had been having a rough time lately and honestly I was really sad that if something happen to her I might not see her again. In the other hand, Manoy Gayfred also had the same dream.

        When we were at Lanie's house last week, I had a hard time opening my yahoo messenger. I even complained about it to Lanie (remember that Lan?). Mama and Resty seldom email me but they usually leave a ym for me. When I can't open yahoo messenger I was beginning to worry. I don't know why. Now I know why, if I open it, I will know that someone died and He doesn't want to spoil our togetherness. That very same day my lolo's brother died. His wife already died in 2002. This was when Ryan was there to visit me. It was the first time he witnessed a funeral in the Philippines.

        The same day lolo was buried, my cousin also died. She is only 17, left 3 children behind. The youngest is only a month old. She stayed with us during her elementary years. We sent her to school because her parents could not afford to send them to school. They are 13 in the family. She had her first baby when she was 13, young isn't it? She had broncitis. Ryan said it is curable pero alam mo na walang pera. I heard the live-in partner ( live-in kasi below 18 pa) hords the money. July 25th they took her to the hospital because she can't barely breath but she wasn't able to reach the hospital, she died. Now they are left with who will take care of the three children.

     Ang buhay nga naman ano? You'll never know who is next.

More good news and a bit of a sad news.

       I have been wanting to write but we have been busy with things around the house. Plus we are starting to pack for Friday. After today we won't have any time to pack. Plus Ryan wants to go right away after he arrive from work. Although we have been to Lanie's  house for 3 times already but we are still very excited. I am very excited to see Garin. He was only 2 months old when I last seen him and now he is a big baby. Plus change of view. We both love Lanie's house. Multi dollar house yata yon.

      Anyways, a lot of things happened while I was in silence that I want to share. My Manoy Gayfred and Cheryl finally had their baby last July 16. His name is Dan Emmanuel named after my parents. Dan  for Dardanila (mama) and Emmanuel for Manuel (papa) which means God sent or God be with us. He weigh 6 lbs. I talked to mama and resty last night and everybody are so excited. Papa was the one who texted me about it. I can sense in his text how proud and excited he is. Unfortunately, Papa is in Manila working for my aunt so he hasn't seen the baby either. Mama said he is so light skinned like Cheryl with cherry lips. Resty said Manoy Gayfred hasn't really kissed the baby because he hasn't shave yet. He was too afraid that the baby will have an allergy. Nonong Tonette was the one who kissed the baby like crazy she said. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the baby. They haven't develop it yet but I have told them to send me some. Resty wanted to take some too with her. I went shopping for the baby 2 days ago that I will mail today. I bought some pacifier and some burp cloth and some more stuff. I was able to pay $80.00 but thats alright. I told Ryan that if we can buy stuff for baby showers on people we hardly even know when we are invited and why can't we spend for my first nephew. He agreed. That was how excited I was.

Manoy and Cheryl with mama. Manoy texted me and told me that when he first held the baby while Cheryl was sleeping, he couldn't help but cry. He said such a precious angel ( sentihon man sad to si Manoy, kami tanan man siguro uy!).

          Manoy Gayfred also did pretty good with his job search. A little background, Manoy had to quit from Saint Scho because when he got married and moved to Mandaue it was too much travel for him. So now he is waiting for a call. He was 2nd for the ranking in the district for DECS and first in the public school where he applied for which is just behind their house.

          Manoy and Cheryl, we are so proud of you both.

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        One of my close friend is here in the US for a teaching job. I was so static when Roxane's sister texted me  of the good news. Atleast we are not that far anymore hahaha. We are in the same country. Now I am waiting for one more close friend of mine Ernie and my circle of friends will be complete. I told Ryan that if we haven't meet I will probably end up here as a teacher. I also would like to inquire because Cheryl and Manoy might be interested. They are both teachers with some master's degree.

Our messy faculty room. Roxane, Angie and me with my boy cut hair.

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       Ryan just got his first review. He was so happy telling me of how well it went. He was 2 points away from outstanding. The remark was, "Ryan's knowledge and attitude has contributed greatly to the company". I told him to keep it up and with that I owed him 2 million kisses.

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       As I said before Papa is now in Manila working for my Aunt. He has been there for almost a month. He wanted to help out a little. Hopefully he will see Resty when she will be going for a training in Manila. I have missed everybody so much. I am just glad that everyone is healthy and well. I was going through the pictures last night and found these.

            

Resty, Ging-ging and Adelyn goofing around with papa and mama.

My precious parents with Ging-ging .

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      In a more unfortunate note, My nanay Cidad ( mama's mama) is feeling very ill lately. We promised each other that she will wait to see her great grand baby from us. She had been through a lot. From having 10 children,with one of my Uncle missing. He had been missing since I was in first year high school I think. That really stressed nanay so much. Working her own field and selling the vegetable from it to Taboan. Mama and I always visited Nanay in Taboan before. I was never embarassed of her. When she was in an accident in 2000 that really knock her down. She was carrying her basket and was crossing the street when a motorcycle that was speeding so fast hit her. The idiot refused to pay for her hospital bills. Nanay said she made sure that nobody was coming but the guy came out of no where. It took her few months to recover. They couldn't keep her home in the main house but she kept on going to her payag (nipa hut) where the field is. When she was well again she went selling again. She said she could'nt stand to stay home and doing nothing. Just early this year, in the same place where she was hit, she went to cross the street again and another guy with a motorcycle hit her again. Medyo hilly kasi. I was furious. The two accidents really bugged her down and now she is really sick. Last night I could not help but cry. I keep on telling myself that, "you promised me nay that you will wait for me". I hope everything is ok. Mama and the rest of the family visited her yesterday and I told resty to give me an update. Prayers will be greatly appreciated. My nanay is 74 years old.

Dad, Ryan, me, Nanay and Mama during Ryan and Dad's first visit.

      Thanks for your time guys. I know this is long. Have a wonderful weekend. I know ours will be great.

Unexpected blessing

    Resty is leaving the country on August 7th. I just talked to her today and she is excited about it. She is busy shopping for some heavy jackets because it will be cold in Taiwan when she gets there. I have accepted the fact that my sister is stubborn hahaha . Sayang din because just recently, she got a call from a job that she applied. They offered her to do designing using CAD (Computer Aided Design). Pero ano pa ba, napasubo na. She thought she doesn't have a chance with this company. When she went for her interview, some of the applicants were Computer Engineering graduates with a CAD background since first year college. One from Ateneo, a couple from San Jose and San Carlos. Yong sa kanya, I just sent her for an entire summer. I guess she made a good impression to the HR and her grades were outstading kaya she was considered.

    Anyways, part of her leaving is also the placement money. Resty already knew that I won't be able to shed the entire amount. We promised a little but it would not be enough to cover everything. She opted of going to the lending with the high interest. I wasn't too happy but this is something she really wants to do.

    A few days ago, Ryan and I were in the living room watching the Phamtom of the Opera when the phone rang. We normally don't answer our phone so we waited till the the caller leave a message in the answering machine. I heard a very familiar accent and I knew it was Uncle Don. I grabbed the phone and we talked for 20 mins. I can't help but cry. I have missed Uncle Don so much. It's been almost 12 years since I last seen him. He is a gentleman, very generous and loving to his adopted neices( us, Resty, Ging-ging and me). I promised to visit them in Australia soon. It is up to Ryan to come but I am going soon when our busy-ness here subsides . Uncle Don handed the phone to Iya Mylee. It is always nice to hear her voice. We had so much catching up to do that we talked for almost 3 hours. We were able to talk about our differences. I thought she was mad at me for marrying at an early age and not letting her know. I was wrong. She was happy for me. Although she was a little bit hurt because we didn't let her know. She only have two brothers in the Bohol and her sisters and the rest of the family are in Austalia. Everytime she comes home she is always in our house. Sometimes her reason is just to see us. She went to Cebu last 2003 to surprise me and my family. Unfortunately, she was the one surprised to know that I wasn't there anymore. She is ok now. She is happy that I am very happy with Ryan.  Iya Mylee asked me if what Resty has is legitimate and I told her it is. They both agreed to let Resty borrow the money. Uncle Don also called Cebu today and talked to Resty and said that she can pay it later but she needs to take care of things in the house first and Ging-ging. They were so concern with the high interest that was why they offered. I told Resty that we don't want to abuse their generousity. She should open an account and try to pay it off every month.

   It was indeed an unexpected blessing. So now, Resty doesn't have to worry about anything. Iya Mylee and Uncle Don are not blood related to any of us. It just so happened that Iya Mylee used to babysit us when mama goes to the market. We became close that's why we called her Iya (tiya). I will make an entry about her soon. I have been looking for a picture of her but I must have misplaced it somewhere when we were moving.

To Iya Mylee and Uncle Don, you both are more than a blessing to all of us. You have touched our lives unendingly.   We love you.