A Walk Through Life

I just got a call today from my elder brother who works in Abu Dhabi. It was so sweet of him to ask how I am doing with my pregnancy and all that. I told him I'm okay and that I'm already in my 5th month. He had strict reminders: Take care of the baby. Cover your belly with black cloth when you go to sleep. Now the black cloth was something new to me. So I asked, What's with the black cloth, bro? He said it's for protection or covering against negative elements around, like aswang . And that's not all, he also added that I should have with me garlic and ginger in the bedroom, still for protection purposes, because they help drive the negative elements away. Now that wasn't the first time that I've heard about the garlic and ginger stuff because I've seen it already in the movies and I know of some superstitious preggies who are really doing this. My brother's pointers had me paranoid a little bit. After the call ended, I asked my husband not to sl

Yesterday, when me and my husband were heading home after an eight hours' work, we bumped into Manang L, the owner of a carenderia just beside our office. Everytime we bump into each other, she usually has something friendly to say to me, although I didn't like how she would often mistake or call me "Janet" (she meant " Jenneth ", a friend/ex-officemate/ex-lunchmate of mine, who already found a new life with her American husband in Ozark, Arkansas) when we've already known each other for years. Don't get me wrong, though, I don't have anything against my good friend, Jenneth. Maybe I just find it irritating everytime Manang L displays episodes of selective amnesia. Anyhow, I'm willing to forgive Manang L for it as she must've been too stressed preparing all the viands each day, or worse, she must've been affected by a lot of monosodium glutamate intake in her cooking which probably blocked her memory moisture hehehe. Yesterday was su

i have been feeling my baby's strong movements and kicks this week especially when i'm working in the office and sitting for hours. i know it's my baby moving around, it feels different. it's not painful but it should be enough to get me fidgeted, but only for a while. it's really a wonderful feeling everytime i feel the little one moving inside. for now, though, hubby can't still feel the baby kicking. maybe in the next month or so, he should be lucky enough to feel those kicks. the very first time i told him that i felt the baby's movements inside, his face lightened up! i wonder what his facial expression would be when he would be able to feel it for himself. and if anyone is wondering why i'm awake at this time, it's because i have awakened from my wonderful sleep. this little fella inside is probably doing some sort of a somersault. i've been talking to him/her about going easy on the movements hehehe. this now brings me back to the topic o

it's my birthday today but i never felt any older, just wiser (ahem). maybe it’s because i love what i’m seeing in the mirror each day--a bulging stomach, joke. i thought if there’s anything i want granted for my birthday this year, it will not be for myself but for the rest of my family to be happ ier . i especially wish for my siblings to finally achieve what they want in their lives and for dad to feel that he’s not alone despite being left behind by mom. my birthday was simply celebrated in the privacy of our home. me and my husband shared together the special pancit that he had cooked for me. cheers for a long life of togetherness! pancit is his specialty. it's funny because when he was still single, he's not doing any cooking at their house, but now he's doing a lot more cooking than i do. i believe it's true that the saying also applies to us women: the best way to a woman's heart is through her stomach . hmmm, i guess i'm referring to my pregnancy

nobody goes through this life without ever experiencing their "downs", not even the wealthiest of people. when i was still single, i would recall going back home with my folks everytime i feel like i needed some time off to lift my spirit ( don't get me wrong, i don't only go home when i'm troubled, i also go home to visit my family and in a happy state ). and i would always remember, it's always my mom who notices my unhappy mode and she would always try to get me to talk about it. and from there we would have a long conversation. that's what i missed about my mom. i missed our talks, her warm, caring and thoughtful ways. i guess God would understand why i still feel sad sometimes about losing her too early. i thought it was too early for her to be taken away from us. i thought she'd get to see how i've grown from a helpless lass to a mature lady and an expectant mom. i thought she'd have the chance to see my baby. but we lost her. we lost

(I don't know if this one's funny but everytime I think about this little fiasco I made with my boss years ago, I can't help but laugh at it. I'm realizing now, my terrible hearing might have probably been the cause of this blunder.) In my previous job, I had an opportunity to work for an Indian boss. He is intelligent and speaks good English, although sometimes I had trouble with his accent--no offense meant, it's just that I'm used to conversing with Filipino bosses who speak the language like it's spoken in our native tongue. I also learned that he can speak and understand a word or phrase of our Cebuano dialect. In one of our conversations, he had asked me to “schedule a meeting with the team tomorrow”. Since he will also be attending that meeting, I asked him what time of the day the said meeting should be scheduled. He answered “ What suits you? ” but it was not audible enough that I thought he said “ Alas ocho ”.The way we tell time is influenced b