Denice

A lot of significant people in my universe passed away on August 2009:

Michael Jackson: His death has proven that I am not numbed by final exits of celebrities because I’m such a big fan of his.

Farrah Fawcett: Yes, I have once followed her TV series “Charlie’s Angels.”

Corazon Aquino: The 1^st woman President of the Philippines who was instrumental in reviving democracy in the country.

Our dear elder in the Faith. Of all our elders, he was the closest to me.

The husband of my officemate

The father of my other officemate

When I heard about the news about the last 3 people I mentioned above, my initial impulse was to run to their families and comfort them even though I actually wouldn’t know what exactly to say.

What do you say to someone who has experienced this kind of a loss?

I couldn’t think of any words to say and in fact, suspect that “silence” might be the best thing to do when you’re beside the people who experience moments of grief.

In my heart, this is what I would wish the families would come to understand: that for everything that happens in our lives, our Almighty Heavenly Father Yahweh has a good purpose.

“He is too good to be unkind and too wise to make mistakes.”

I already forgot who I heard this from but I never forget the message.

Just when I thought I have been numbed by graduation moments whenever March comes, it soon became my son’s turn to march on the stage to get his “moving up” certificate having successfully made it to the next level from Junior Casa 1/GLLP 2 to Junior Casa 2. This is his first taste of a graduation ceremony.

I did not cry during my own graduation from college, but tears fell when it was my son’s. It was a struggle to hold back these tears of joy as I marched with my son. It was a struggle to pretend that the graduation song wasn’t penetrating deep into my emotional nerves to mark a great milestone. It’s cliché but true: it’s wonderfully different once one becomes a mom. A very special feeling is born that only a mother understands.

I am mighty proud of you Kyle David, my beloved son! Daddy and I love you so much. May Almighty Yahweh bless you always.

I read somewhere that the best time to take a break is when you don’t have the time to. So I guess I should’ve taken a break today eh… although I just came back from a two-week hibernation from the corporate world.

The tons of papers “for my urgent attention” welcomed me back from my vacation leave as I stared at my desk. Furthermore, I didn’t know I was in for at least two meetings for today, plus at least two client calls and a PTA meeting in between for this week alone. To top it all, I will have one more warm body to accommodate in my team who needs all the guidance from me. Did I mention that I have nearly a thousand emails to check? Whoa, welcome back, Ms. Me. Brace yourself for the full speed ahead!

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You’ll never know what you’re gonna get.” This is the famous line by the character Forrest Gump. I cannot help but think about this thought as I looked back at how things were during my time in high school.

Come to think of it. No one ever thought about adding a subject “Preparing for College: Possible Courses to Consider” where particular focus would be to give students a comprehensive basis for selecting the course they deem appropriate for their interest, skills and abilities.

During my time, a high school student would be lucky if he she had older friends and relatives who would share idea of their courses and careers. Otherwise, one would be left guessing or going by what’s popular unless he or she would be very sure of what he or she wants to become someday. I have yet to meet one though in real life.

Of course, our skills and abilities are useful gauge. But I think that it would really help high school students make wise decisions about their choice of course in college if the school would provide them options and ample information. Maybe something as simple as inviting a nurse, pilot, flight steward, doctor, policeman, engineer, architect, journalist, actor, etc. to talk about what it’s like to have a job like what they have. What are the pros and cons. What course, skills and abilities are required, among others. This way, shifting is avoided (thereby wasting no money on an unwanted course) and more students would be happy with their chosen field.

Had something like this in college but I personally feel it’s too late. Informing a student as early as in high school is better.

Whenever Sunday comes, I make sure Kyle and I have sufficient time for bonding. Apart from the time I make for this, free time for me means being with Kyle for longer times to share activities together. This include going to the groceries, playing with his cars and transformer robots and of course, reading bedtime stories before he goes to bed..

Recently, I read from a parenting magazine that exposing a child to greeneries or outdoor scenes will help him concentrate in class. Now that he’s attending alternative pre-school, I make sure our itinerary for the day includes taking Kyle to a park.

Since Bonifacio High is close by, my family takes advantage of the park before the place gets fully saturated. There are so many scene stealers within this mini LA in Fort Bonifacio. For me, however, nothing is more watch worthy than seeing my son enjoying the greeneries as he runs, jumps, rolls over and walk hand in hand with his mama and daddy.

Related Post:

Growth is such a painful but rewarding process.

A caterpillar must risk shedding off its maturing layers in order to blossom into a beautiful butterfly. David of the Psalms fame must face Goliath before he’d become a future king of Israel. Joseph had to suffer being thrown inside a deep well before he’d become the right hand of Pharaoh. Yahshua our Messiah had to fulfill his mission and die for our sins prior to sitting on the right hand of Almighty Yahweh.

Without David’s episodes with Goliath, he’d still be a shepherd. Had Joseph not have been a subject of envy among his brethren, he’d not become a high ranking official in Egypt. Had Yahshua our Savior did not go through what he had to go through, no one would be saved and the evil one would have triumphed.

Growth in anything — personal or family life, career and other similar competition anyone is faced with — is almost always preceded by a period (or periods) of challenges.

So my dear friends, press on, hang on, keep praying for strength and endurance, because growth is on the way.

Whenever “adult” problems creep in which can swing anywhere from the deadlines to meet at work, the presentation materials to prepare, the bills to pay up to the clothes to wear, I make sure to take a longer look at my son Kyle David and my niece Gabrielle.

These angels on earth remind me, by how they live their lives, to minimize my worries because Almighty Yahweh is in fact, the One in-charge.

“Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”, the disciples asked Yahshua in Matthew 18: 1. Yahshua called a little child to himself and set him in the midst of the disciples and told them, with certainty, that “unless they were converted or changed and became as little children, they would not only fail to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, they would not even enter into it!” Matthew 18: 2-3.

More Stories:

After a round of coffee that goes with my lunch (on a habitual basis), I was ready to pull the drawer of my desk where I’ve been keeping tons on chocolates of various kinds.

Today I felt like munching on choc nut. Hmmm… the thought of how good it tasted makes me forget how much sugar it contains. I figured that probably, the entire pack of each choc nut is 80-90% sugar.

My “guesstimate” came from my sister actually. She is president of the culinary club of the company she works for and one time, they made polvorons (a fragile cake of sweet, buttery powder). She was amazed that the preparation entailed 90% of sugar!

Sugar is bad for you — it’s evil to one’s health in sweet disguise, I have been told. Because of this, a lot of people nowadays resort to artificial sweeteners to keep their sweet indulgences minus the calories and other health concerns that can be blamed for sugar.

While the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) says that artificial sweeteners are safe across types (these include aspartame, saccharine, acesulfame K, sucralose and neotame), one cannot dismiss the numerous cases that link these to cancer.

One popular example is that of saccharin. In 1977, it was concluded among Canadians that saccharine caused bladder cancer in animals tested. Since then, the FDA required that any saccharin products carry a warning label about cancer. The actual warning reads: “Use of this product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains saccharin, which has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals.”

The last time I bought Sweet n’ Low, however, I noticed that it doesn’t carry this label anymore and I learned that it’s only due to popular public demand that the brand continues to be in the market and the FDA was not able to ban the brand.

I remember my uncle who told me that you don’t get ills of sugar when you use artificial sweeteners, but you’ll “get something else.” I also read a health book recently where it is advising readers to avoid artificial sweeteners “completely:”

I think that at the end of the day, it is up to the person to choose who to believe — the facts or the cases that are not concluded by the fact but then came from reliable sources/persons as well…. Haay…

So which risk should one bravely take as a consequence of having a sweet tooth: diabetes or cancer?

I stared at my unopened choc nut for a little while… and… thinking about the sweet debate …. I decided to put it back to my drawer. Unopened.

Related Topics: