Christmas Morning 2011

And so this is Christmas, as the song goes. I am here watching my favorite show - Sunday Morning while reading the Sunday paper and trying to find my thoughts so I could write them down. If I could only stop listening to Albert Brooks and quit looking at the Comics, maybe I'll get somewhere.

So here we go. Yesterday was not the mad dash it was last year for me. I had my errands done early that I was still able to finish watching "Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen", return it to the library, pick up stuff and deliver yet other stuff.

The most heartening thing for me is seeing presents dropped at our door and neighbors coming in bringing little presents of food or trinkets and greeting us "Merry Christmas." I love this community because we are a community. It's not just for the presents but for what they signify - the friendship, the bond, the warmth. But then again, that bond comes from the fact that we pray together, we share our faith, our trials and tribulations, our hurts and our happy times.

I spoke with my siblings in the Philippines and Canada and with two nephews who are also both my godsons - therefore the nostalgic melancholy of the season had subsided. I will see most of them when I come home next month.

We are going to Palm Springs for 4 days to relax and unwind. Ate Lodi and her family with Ate Ellie of course, are also on their way somewhere more exotic - Jakarta and Bali in Indonesia. It's a tradition they have started years ago - to take a break between Christmas and New Year as a family.

Things are changing - and life as I know it in the past decade will be very different in ways I am not sure of. But as my dear friend Lizanne wrote to me, " I’ve found in my life that travelling at such times — when your body, mind and soul may feel tender, but so open to new experiences — is magical."

I am so looking forward for the magic - and am also ready for the unexpected.

Merry Christmas.

The River Forks...

God has a sense of humor. When we think we have it all figured out, He chuckles and lets us know how clueless we really are. He taps us on the shoulder and gently leads us, if only we will listen.

The one thing I learned over the years is that He IS always there, just waiting to be found.

The river forks for me. I have to get off the boat and go the other way and let those with whom I have traveled for almost seven years go on without me. It is my time for a different adventure with different companions on a new journey. I am both excited and sad. I am moving on.

In my previous postings, I mentioned how the people who come into our lives enrich us. I had been privileged to have worked with an outstanding group of people who are passionate and committed. These men and women have exhibited what is possible when one gives his or her best. It is a pleasure to have been in such company. I will miss them sorely, and I will take them with me as I continue on with my own adventure.

I am not sure what lies ahead. I guess that is where the excitement comes from. The unknown is both titillating and scary. Anything is possible. My slate is blank and I could write a new chapter that could be entirely different from what the previous years had been. Call me cocky, but I am not afraid. I have been through more difficult times, but the BIG GUY had always been behind me and every challenging situation had led to me into something better and more rewarding.

It is not always easy to understand what we are being called to do. We need to listen. We need to search, inside and out. We need to trust. I do.

In the meantime, I will be going on a literal journey. I will be traveling in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia. My home country - the Philippines - is made up of 7,100 islands and islets - depending on the tide (yes, some islets are really small). My siblings live in the outskirts of Manila and that will be my homebase. Together with family and old friends, I will be visiting two major islands - Cebu and Palawan. I will also be traversing through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. My hope is to ameliorate my understanding of peoples and cultures, and in the process enrich myself with the bounty of God's grace through those who will come into my life during this odyssey.

The river forks. There is sadness in my heart, but I am stoked because the possibilities are amazing.