Life, Day by Day

When we get married, the next logical thing that happens are the coming of the children.  But when a marriage fails, what happens to the children?  Often times couples forget that the failure of a marriage does not only involve the two of them but largely affects the children. It cannot be denied that the family is vital in the development of children.  I do not think I would be the person that I am if my parents did not prioritize family, specifically their kids. We knew our parents had problems in their marriage but they never made us afraid that our family will fall apart...we were raised secure, comforted by their love and devotion. Yes, it may sound selfish but when you are a child, your parents and family is the only world you know of.  This is why parenthood is such a big sacrifice albeit, a fruitful and joyful one.  So, even if the marriage can't be saved, the children should always remain the priority of the couple. The children should be m...

Twenty years ago, my son came into my life as a 3 month old baby a few days after my dad passed away. My Dad had a massive first heart attack and the family was so unprepared for the loss. He attached himself to me before he could even say mama and as soon as he can walk he would follow me around...wherever I was in the house, he would be right there beside me. This little baby boy stole my heart like no man has ever done. He has given me the gift of motherhood and I finally understood what unconditional love looked like. When he was little I would always pray that he would turn out to be a good man...and well...I also hoped he would be tall since his birth mother is a very short person. So, I made him drink liters of milk, gave him growth vitamins and made him sleep early. When he turned 16, he was almost 5 feet 9 and I said to myself...I don't want to be greedy...5'9" is okay Lord. Well, he grew another inch taller...as well as bigger! And so, I begged the Lord.....

I looked up the legal definition of a family and this is what I got...and this ...and then this . It only goes to show that today's family is difficult to define because of its diversity primarily due to the many changes it has undergone through the years. In school I was taught that a family consists of a father, a mother and a child.  That teaching continues to this day even when families and family dynamics are no longer as simple as that.  When my son was in Grade 2 in a local Catholic school, his social studies teacher asked them to say something about their families and some of the children gave unusual answers.  She obviously was unprepared (or simply clueless) for what they gave because, not getting the "right" answers, she further explained that a father is the one that made your mother pregnant and a mother is the one who carried you in her tummy! Of course, when he was picked up from school, the first thing my son asked was, "where is my father" and...

As I am making more progress on my parents' respective family trees, I am also discovering a lot of family secrets...or maybe they were not really secrets but just got buried in the past.  As I unravel our family histories, I realize that human behavior then was not much different from what it is today. The only difference is that in the past there were clear cut rules on appropriate behavior while in this modern age, what is right and wrong has become relative. The poignant movie The Age of Innocence is a good example of how relationships and it's complications were handled by the middle and upper class in the 19th to the mid 20th century. There was a standard of behavior that put emphasis on importance of family and respect of society. If you fail to observe these, you are banished, exiled or marked as a persona non grata doomed to be set aside and ignored by family and society the rest of your life.  In the past, arranged marriages were common and if you're lucky, you m...

It's on!  The Eustaquio Lopez Descendants will have a pot luck merienda cena meet and greet gathering on Saturday, November 6, 2010.  Venue will be in Titil's place in Villa Valderrama.  Of course we will be including the one who started it all, Tito Rollie Espina, whose dream is to keep the legacy of Graciano Lopez y Jaena alive among the descendants of the clan.  I am so excited...maybe we can finally get our Lopez genealogy book going...

I decided to attend a Blogging talk organized by the Negros Bloggers at SM Bacolod today.  I was looking forward to learning more about blogging and I was not disappointed.  The talks were simple but very practical.  I also learned that I did not need a DSLR to get great pictures and that I could actually make some money from blogging...well, I knew that, but I did not know how. In fact, my cluelessness and impulsiveness in the past only made me lose money which I could ill afford. It is still not very clear to me but now, I know who to ask and how to ask for help in making my blog earn for me. Of course, blogging is not going to be a career for me anytime soon...but if I get paid for doing something I enjoy...wouldn't that be like having your cake and eating it all at the same time?

The week-long seminar in Iloilo was a big fiasco...from the venue to the course to the trip home.  But first, my top reasons why I will never go back to Iloilo's premier hotel, at least until they improve their facilities and service. For Php1,800++ (seminar rate), you get these: Poor housekeeping service - dusty rugs, airconditioners delayed delivery of towels and when finally delivered...old towels (dirty white color and thin) bed linens changed every other day but flannel under the bed sheet is changed ONLY WHEN IT GETS DIRTY (whattt????) foam pillows...additional foam pillows cost Php 25, a waste of good money ceiling over the shower/bathtub area was oozing with water droplets shower curtain bottom part...yellowish with mildew   2.  No outside telephone line...you have to dial 0 and pass through the operator...even in their restaurants...AND their front desk hang up on my caller!    3.  TV remote was defective...I was too tired t...