Going Back to Basics on Kuya's Birthday

Today is my Kuya's birthday. Happy birthday to my favorite Kuya in the whole wide galaxy! We always joke about him being my favorite Kuya because I really don't have a choice since he's my only male sibling. The same goes for my Ate who is my only female sibling. Haha. I do have a lot of Kuyas since I have my brother-in-law, his siblings, my sister-in-laws siblings, my cousins and my Kuyas in our community. Of course the title of most favorite goes to my one and only blood brother, my Kuya Jojo. 

I thought I'd mention my Kuya in my post today because he's always been my guide, my mentor. He's always been there for me. He's 13 years older than me and has been guiding me especially in my growth path since I was in high school. He was already teaching marketing when I was in high school and he'd practice stuff on me. I think I also mentioned in one of my blog posts before that he brought me back from going into the light after I had heart surgery. Dad was already there picking me up, but I heard Kuya praying over me when I was at the ICU and I went back. Shhh, he doesn't know about this. 

And that's our special bond. I mentioned him here today because he's been waiting for me to set-up our VC. I told him I need help to move forward from where I am today -- on the sick boat. I haven't done so because I know he'd ask me questions I'm not ready to answer now. I have finally accepted the fact that I have ignored 6 years worth of Papa God's knocks and I have not listened to any of them. And here I am in a very bad rut. I haven't been getting well and my doctor has put me now on some very aggressive medication. 

I have taken the first step to get out of this pit -- accepting my mistake. I realized the only way to get out of this pit is to listen to what Papa God has been trying to tell me in the last six years. And the only way to do it is go back to basics. Luckily the medication has given me a spurt of energy (this will end tomorrow). My brain is finally working somehow and I've been able to make a list of basic goals I have to work on to get out of this pit. Once I have that plan then I can finally sit down with my Kuya to figure it out.  

CB///320 #StuckAtHomeDay/350 #StayHome #BeKind 

Happy, happy birthday to my Favorite Kuya

I technically just have one brother, my Kuya Jojo, and he's my favorite (no choice there haha). But I must say that I have the best brother in the whole wide world because he's always been there for me, through thick and thin, through no fats with so much fat, through alive and barely alive. I know I annoyed him a lot when I was a kid and I still do (it's my privilege because he's 13 years older than me!), but I know despite that he loves me.

My Kuya with his family the day we both renewed our wedding vows!

So, happy, happy birthday Kuya! Love you!

A Silver Love Story

It's been 25 years since my Kuya and Ate Joy tied the knot. Wow! How time flies!

When they married I was just a froshie in high school wearing ugly braces and was a walking stick (I didn't have any fats at all!). I was tasked to be the bridesmaid together with my cousin, Tina. It was a very fun day for me since we had all our relatives present. In the next year Gabby was born and I spent weekday afternoons playing with him while studying algebra and I remember we had to spend Christmas in Baguio and Pangasinan. A year later Carissa came and then eleven months later Patricia was born.

The family moved to Jakarta though when Patty was till a toddler, but we always celebrated Christmas with them, either in Jakarta or in Manila. We thought there would just be three kids,  but soon after Michael was born a few months after Miguel and then JC came in last. This made things more crazy and fun for the family since our parents just had so much grandkids to spend time with!

One of the best memories I have of our family vacations was the time we were stuck in Jakarta airport for a few hours. My Dad gathered all the kids on one side to tell them our family history. He regaled them with the story on how they managed to escape capture from the Japanese and the adventure they had crossing the sea from Quezon to Surigao. He said they had to row through in stealth the huge Japanese ships that were in sea during that time. It was a really great story and the kids still remember that day.

My Kuya's family is a force to reckon with since there's 7 of them now! And everything's just crazy when all 7 of them are complete, haha. This Christmas will certainly be a crazy one since it's been a few years since all of them have been on one place and I'm looking forward to spending time with my nephews and nieces.

Congratulations Kuya and Ate Joy! Thank you for bringing to this world my lovable nephews and nieces! Jay and I have a long, long way to go before reach 25 years of wedded bliss!