The Journey. It’s Mine. [Raine’s Mom, Problogger, Techie-wannabe, Wheelchair-Traveler]

4 years old na ang padaba ko. wow.

Nothing lavish though, just something very special.

Since Raine was born at around 8 am (dec29′02) I wanted him to wake up to a birthday breakfast.

So I prepared (bought) a birthday cake and an ube roll, (cooked) lumpiang shanghai (fried spring roll) and ta-da…spaghetti. (There would have been hotdogs&marshmallows on stick but I forgot the marshmallows.)

And so Raine woke up in the morning of his birthday with the table set with all his favorite foods, a lighted cake and a gift bag sitting on his chair.

No party. Just family enjoying the birthday breakfast bash (after sending a full plate to each neighbor: a custom).

Imagine his surprise…it was to die for.

(Yes I woke up before 6 am to cook spaghetti and with my mother slept late the night before making spring rolls for frying in the morning). No sweat really, Raine’s delight was priceless.

Happy birthday baba…i love you very much and I look forward to more birthday breakfasts with you.

Well, “Santa” almost didn’t make it to my household and so creeping in at about 5am (before daybreak) at Christmas found these sleepyheads:

 and I swear amoy utot na ang paligid!

At ito ang pinakamalakas umutot sa lahat habang tulog: si Raine!

This year we forgo the old family tradition of attending the midnight mass on Christmas eve and noche buena afterwards and went to sleep instead, woke up to a nice breakfast of kakanins before going to the Christmas morning mass and came home afterwards to Christmas lunch instead.

We are all sleepy heads so we wouldn’t do justice to the midnight mass anyway. My head would be nodding off I’m sure, so I didn’t dare see how Raine would do in it. Christmas for us (of course) is the birth of Jesus Christ and that’s also what I’ve started to teach Raine.

However, this year, I started to introduce the concept of Santa Claus and told Raine to hang one little sock near the window before he slept on the 24th. (We have no fireplace and no Christmas tree and so the window near the bed it is for Raine where Santa is suppose to peep and hang in his gifts if you were good. When I was a kid it was one ear of the mosquito net where socks for Santa were hanged. He he. )

Apparently the Santa concept is a sure hit whatever version you have. I guess as long as you be consistent that Santa lives in the North Pole and has this habit of leaving the gifts while the good boys and girls are asleep in their beds.

No kid will be unhappy waking up to Christmas gifts, whomever the gifts were from.

This year, Santa is very generous (bumawi sa ilang taong walang santa) and Raine got a spiderman (ever-favorite) terno, a telescope/binocular set and a green guitar. (The gray telescope and the green guitar were specifically in Raine’s Christmas wish list).

Hmmn. I guess I have to brace myself with next year’s list and remember not to fall asleep on Christmas eve!

Raine by the way is wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and wants to thank Santa most especially. (Thanks din Santa!)

…and there was light. Electricity was restored in the homestead on December 22. A nice surprise when I got back home after being away for 4 nights. Though Raine is happier that I am back, he couldn’t forgive me for not taking him on the trip.

Anyway, I’ve a few realizations on those four days:

 
1. I can never survive living in Manila. The congestion and the traffic are stuff I don’t wanna be stressed with on a 24/7 basis. This was the main reason I was too happy in the suburbs, like LB.
2. LB seems too far away (literally and figuratively) but visiting is always nice and homey. This place have changed in so many ways. LB has come a long way from Ellen’s Fried Chicken to Crib Tea and Coffee Bar and it was my home for almost 18 years. A unique place and some very special people.
3. My home is where Raine is. Need I say more? I was glad to get away and break away from being on each other’s throat but I couldn’t wait to get home the moment it was time to go. My shopping bag was full of Raine’s stuff.
4. Bloggers are always fantastic to meet. Always. No awkwardness, no pretentions. Because we’ve been reading each other’s blogs already before meeting personally, we feel like old friends. I like the familiarity and warmth in blogger meet-ups. Finally I met b5media blogger Christine Gooding (of NZ and nope I won’t insert a hyperlink to her personal blog). Pleasure to see you again Jayvee!



5. Old friendships should be carried on with the use of today’s technologies (SMS, email, blogs), otherwise you lose touch somewhere in the middle. Meeting Ruth is always special because, always, it feels like we were just apart for a day, even hours. Technically that’s really true, because even though we are worlds apart we are always in touch via all mediums (chat, email, SMS, blogs), our personal meeting is just icing on the cake. I’ve still got “offline” friends but my relationship with Ruth has come full circle, from offline, to online and offline again. I just wish I’d be able to cover that very circle with all my friends so that we won’t lose touch ever.

That’s all for now, I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

[Click on photos to enlarge]

Last time I was in Manila, the original plan was to drop by LB before returning to bicol. Last minute, I chickened out.

This morning, I arrived at 7am in good old LB (without Raine because I have to work). Though I barely had a wink in Manila last night (met couple of old college friends) I couldn’t sleep in the bus. The view on the way here have always been refreshing, besides I had butterflies in my stomach.

When I got off the bus headed to Sta. Cruz (Laguna) in front of Olivarez plaza, i felt like kissing the ground. Without thinking (automatic) I was almost getting on a jeepney to UPLB but decided to walk the few blocks to Jollibee crossing instead for my morning coffee fix.

While walking that short distance, 3 cars whose plate numbers I know sped by me.

(I have this habit of memorizing my friends’ and colleagues’ cars’ plate numbers. A habit that’s really handy specially when you used to work in an international organization campus when all the expats’ cars are white and the same model and brand every year. I had to be sure which one is my boss’! He he.)

Anyway, I was too early for the opening of internet shops, 8 am is too early here. (Got used to the one in Sorsogon that regularly opens at 7 am) So I enjoyed the walk down Lopez Avenue and found an open online shop at the corner of F.O. Santos.

So I’ll be hooked up in this hole for couples of hours. Lunch, dinner and after-dinner gimmick is already booked, and yes, even a place to stay the night. Otherwise, I would probably bump into most people I know if I keep walking the streets into the campus.

So i better blog away to have time to find my old tagagupit ng buhok and a quick stop for a footspa.

This is an sponsored trip but I wouldn’t tell who!

Ahhh, i am in my element. I wouldn’t get lost around here, I know each corner like the back of  my hand. He he.

Anybody noticed the links on my sidebar? Well, I don’t want it to look like my feeds at bloglines so if you or your blog is not listed, don’t despair (as if my link is that important eh? he he) that doesn’t necassarily mean that I don’t read you/your blog.

If you’d peep into my feeds, you’d be shaking your head with the varities, you’d wonder what really makes me tick. Oh yes, I am a celebrity buff and I read celebrity blogs too. Hah!

Anyway, like speedlinking, I want to point you out to the blog(s) closest to my heart. While I truly love (and find very informative) Melissa’s Parenting-Weblog, b5media’s Solo Mother has striken me with a slight pinch right in the middle of my heart.

It was through that blog that I got interviewed by Kate Baggot of Babylune. It took me a long time to wrap up my replies to Kate, it was in between typhoons and of no internet connection.

Finally (before Reming) I emailed the completed version to Kate. (Thanks so much Kate for your patience.)

And so here it is, Kate’s unedited single mother interview of yours truly with this last note:

Single motherhood may not be for everyone but when you find yourself in such a situation, take CHARGE of your life and your child’s life even when you are down in the pits (broke, bad credit standing, out of job or in between jobs, no child help/support, tirefull days and endless sleepless nights) for seemingly the longest time. 

A single mother’s life gets BETTER only if you want it to.

All we had were typhoons and I’ve no words to describe the gusty winds and heavy rains. It was like the heavens are at their most furious. We are just thankful to be alive, so that anything wet (and kaput) is negligible. Be it the prized old photos or a book collection.

We (I) cannot be too sentimental against the angsts of mother nature. Human life remains most important. For you can buy books again and collect photos once more.

Rebuild. Clean. Acquire. All these you can still when you live after super typhoons. Life is too precious. It could be taken in a split second. Gusty winds. Falling trees. Mudslides. Flashfloods.

A moment of silence for all the lives taken by Typhoon Reming (Int’l name: Durian).

To those who lived after Reming, these words couldn’t be more apt (Thanks MY for the inspiring SMS!):

Happiness is somewhere between too little and too much. May you have just..

• enough wealth to meet your needs
• enough poverty to learn how to work hard
• enough blessings to know that God loves you
• enough problems so you don’t forget Him
• enough happines to keep you sweet
• enough trials to keep you strong
• enough hope to keep you happy
• enough sorrow to keep you human

We’re having full serving of the whole menu. Christmas in Bicolandia will definitely be seen on a different light, with or without electricity.

(Funny how Christmas Carols were playing on the radio as I write this entry. Because we barely had electricity in most of the -ber months, this was the first time I’ve heard Christmas Carols this year.)

Alas, an online internet shop. A nice change because I am sick and tried of being the old gloria labandera. Hayy, so much to say, so much to do. There’ll be time for all those later I guess.

Let me just sort through my loaded inbox first and see if I can convince Raine to stop standing in my shadow so I can get back to “work”.

I’ll get back to blogging I promise, as soon as I can remember my log-in details and passwords.

Argh! My mind is racing and my fingers can’t keep up…

Thanks everyone for all the emails and SMSs of concern. We are safe.