Remembering Papa

To the man who showed me the true meaning of unconditional love and support --my father.

Tomorrow will be my father's 6th year death anniversary. I know I have already moved on but being such a Papa's girl , I can't help but miss him at times.

Papa (as we fondly call him) was what you can call the "groovy" kind of father. He was not strict and he allowed us to go on gimmicks even when we were still in high school as long as he would be the one to fetch us or any of our friends' parents. He did not dictate things to us like what course to take in college, what clothes to wear, the type of friends we should hang out with, etc. He allowed us to decide for ourselves and he never failed to support us in every decisions that we made. He has a great sense of humor and he was always the life of the party whenever we attend social functions and family reunions. Honestly, our family gatherings were not as lively as before when Papa was still around. He taught me and my siblings the basics of Ballroom Dancing:) Even our househelpers got a free Ballroom Dancing lessons from the Dance Instructors he hired. He would always ask me to dance with him even if I just woke up and practice the new steps he learned from his Ballroom Dancing class. Oh I really miss dancing with him:( It used to be a part of my morning routine:( He was also into sports like basketball, billiards, table tennis, etc.

He was a great cook and he really has a passion for food (which he passed on to us, his kids). We always look forward to Sunday lunches and dinners when he would cook a hearty and delicious meal for us. On days that he was not in the mood to cook, we would eat out and try the different restaurants in the Metropolis. Because of him I learned to appreciate all types of food may it be Oriental, European, American, etc. He also taught me to eat not only in fine dining restaurants and hotels but to carinderias and turo-turo too;)

He was also a very understanding and loving father. He never got mad at me when I was starting to drive...back then I had an average of 2 accidents in a week. He even comforted me when I almost want to give up on driving by telling me that accidents are part of it and that you cannot call yourself a driver if you never encountered one. He was there when I needed a shoulder to cry on when I got so stressed out and saturated with my first job. He gave me pieces of advice on how to deal with my job and when he saw in my eyes that I was really desperate and unhappy, he offered me a position in our family business. He also knew the resentment I felt for my mother. He never tolerated it (even though they also had issues as a married couple) and always asked me to try to reach out and understand Mama.

He was also very spiritual. He brought me to Quiapo, Baclaran, Sta. Clara, Sacred Heart on a weekly basis to attend novenas and masses. Whenever we go to these churches, his suki for Sampaguita (this is for every church) will readily hand a prepared bunch for us. I later found out that Papa was assisting the kids of his suki/s with their education. He did this in secret, not even my mom knew about this. I learned the value of prayer and having a deeper relationship with our Creator through his example.

Papa may not be perfect in all aspects but he was everything to me. I never had a boyfriend when he was still alive probably because I felt that his companionship was more than enough. Would you believe that even if he already passed away, he still guided me in choosing the right guy for me:) When my fiance was still courting me, I went to Papa's grave and prayed to him. I asked him if he thinks Kokoy is the one for me. That same night, I had a dream. I dreamt that Papa and I were dancing and while we were in the midst of it, he gave my hand to a guy and told me to dance with him. That guy was Kokoy. I thanked God because I realized that Papa was still watching over me and that he's still willing to help us out in anyway he can.

The day before he died, we spent the whole day together...and it was what others would refer to as "one sweet day". I really miss him and his never-ending stories. I miss dancing with him. I miss his laughter, jokes and antics. I even miss arguing with him. I miss just being with him. As I walk down the aisle on my upcoming wedding, I would reserve a slot for Papa. No one would bring me to the altar for no one can take Papa's place in my heart. I know in spirit he would be there to witness this very important event in my life.

Papa,I assure you that my love for you never fades. I may love another guy now (my fiance of course) but you will always be my second love with God as my first.

I hope you've finally found your peace Papa. Despite what other people say, you're still the best father anyone could ever have.

last-minute non-working day

President GMA announced today (July 25) as a non-working day only last Friday. I was so surprised when somebody from our sister company called me to ask if it's really a non-working day today. Being the HR person of our company, I then called Malacañang and asked if what I heard was true. They confirmed it but added that they don't have the memo yet. Heck, I couldn't announce this to our company unless I have a copy of the proclamation. It was already 2pm then and I basically kept on going to the internet site as often as possible of the Office of the Press Secretary to check if it was already downloaded. I also spent so much time in calling the telefax of Malacañang's record division to fax the said proclamation to me since I couldn't download it in their site. And after much effort, I finally got a copy of it at 4pm from their site. Whew! getting a copy of that proclamation was really tiring since it was a last minute thing. Honestly, I didn't really mind doing it because I was so happy to know that we're gonna have a 3-day weekend! I really need a breather after all;) So, what have I done so far in this 3-day weekend?

Saturday
- i went to the parlor early am to have a pedicure
- i invited koksy dates to have lunch at our place and decided to cook his favorite dish, sweet & sour pork...it's my first time to cook this dish so i was kinda nervous if he would like the taste (since he's very critical to other restaurants' taste of this dish)...well, he liked it and thanked me for the hearty lunch he had... he ate so much:)
- kokoy and I headed to Tagaytay for an overnight fun with some of our SFC friends late in the afternoon
-we had a very heavy dinner in the resthouse we stayed in and spent the whole night until the wee hours of the morning chatting and singing ( we brought along a videoke system)

Sunday
- i woke up at around 7am and prepared breakfast together with ate cooky (my unit head in sfc) to the group
- we headed to caleruega after breakfast and did some picture taking and heard mass there at around 11am
- after caleruega, we went to chapel on the hill in batulao, had lunch at carlos' pizza in tagaytay, went back to the rest house to take a nap and get our things, went to Our Lady of Manaoag in Tagaytay, and our last stop was at the Shepherd's place to buy pasalubong... we were back here in Manila at around 6:30 pm...there was no traffic from Tagaytay to Manila...it was great!

Monday
- well, I'm blogging now and kokoy texted me last night that we'll play badminton at 2-4 pm... we would also go to pay a visit to my father at the cemetery since his death anniversary we'll be this coming thursday... we might probably drop by any branch of National Bookstore to buy the book Kokoy needs for his Accounting class in MBA...

.... I hope I could enjoy this last day of this 3-day weekend:)

What a pleasant surprise!

I had dinner with my friend Liezel and my fiance 2 nights ago at Metrowalk. I was the one tasked to look for a table for us. So, I went to a table that was vacant with a good view and conducive for discussion (even though the table hasn't been cleaned yet). I called a waiter to clean the table and while waiting for him, I saw a Nokia 6600 cellphone. I then conluded that one of the people who previously occupied that table must have left it. There's a SWAT office in Metrowalk and when I saw someone from SWAT passed by, I gave it to him because I don't know if we will still be around when the owner of the cellphone comes back. And he agreed to take responsibility on the said unit, he told me to tell the person (in case the person arrives while we are still there) to claim it at SWAT. He gave me his name and told me that he will just assist some people and will be out of his office for awhile.

After an hour, 2 people approached us and asked us if we saw a cellphone. So I told them about the details. It turned out that the owner of the cellphone is Calvin Millado (yes, the former singer). They waited for the SWAT person and after a few minutes, they got the cellphone. Calvin was very grateful and asked us if we are free on Saturday afternoon. Of course we asked why and he told us that he will treat us, he'll give us free tickets to the stage play Beauty & the Beast! I was so elated! Beauty & the Beast is my all-time favorite Disney movie. I was suppose to watch it but due to the financial difficulties I'm experiencing lately, I decided against it. So you could just imagine my surprise and excitement when he told us about it:) He told me to that he'll leave the tickets at the entrance and it will be under my name, we exchanged cellphone numbers in case a problem comes up.

Can I just say that God is sooo good, he has proven once again that He will answer even the smallest desires of our hearts and he will reward us for the good things we've done. I know this wish is so superficial but to tell you frankly, it came at the right time. I met Liezel because she has a big and I mean big problem and this pleasant surprise really made her happy. She used to be in the cast of The Little Mermaid and so she was as excited as I was (even more I think) when Calvin promised to give us tickets 'coz most of the cast of Beauty and the Beast were casts of Little Mermaid before which means she's going to watch her friends.

So there, I'm going to watch Beauty and the Beast on Saturday!

off to the province

As I mentioned, I'm off to Pangasinan for the weekend. I'll be going there with my younger brother, JM. Well, you know how excited I was but I can't help but feel sad because I'm leaving my Dates (our term of endearment) behind. I know it's only for 2 days but we practically just see each other during weekends and he's sick. He's been sick (flu) for the past 5 days and I was not able to take care of him 'coz we're both busy from work. Yes, he still went to work even if he's sick. To make matters more difficult, his midterms for his Accounting class (he's currently taking up MBA from DLSU) will be tomorrow. He's been grouchy for the past days which is understable considering his condition. I just talked to him over the phone and somehow his kakulitan is coming back. I hope he'll be well by the time I come back.

Pls. pray for our safe trip and for my Dates' recovery and exam as well.

my dates & i

Happy B-day Trian!

Me & mah siblings, Trian is the li'l girl beside me

I'm so excited this weekend, I'm going to Pangasinan to celebrate my lil sis' birthday:) Let me tell you something about her. She's Patricia Ann Junio, we call her Trian, Baby, Little Girl and Brutitay. I am 19 years her senior, yes she could pass as my daughter if I married at that age. She's like a breath of fresh air for all of us. She's pretty... sweet (she never fails to give us a kiss or hug whenever we come home from work...she says i love you before sleeping)...

Trian in her wacky mood:)

talented (she can really belt out a tune and she created her own style of singing, she also knows how to play the guitar and she's only turning 9)!... intelligent(ever since she started schooling, she always makes it to the top 5 of her class) ...
has a great sense of humor ( all our friends and relatives could attest to this, Trian's hirits and antics never fails to make all of us laugh).

I just feel so blessed for having her around. She's not like any typical 9-year old kid, she's really matured and understanding. I remember when we were buying school supplies last month, I told her that our budget could only afford a certain type of bag, she said "okay lang ate". She was also asking us to give her a guitar since she's using her kuya's guitars which are all too big for her but she never demanded it. This is how she said it... "ate if you already have money, pls. buy me a guitar". She knows that there's a possibility that we couldn't buy it for her but she never pushed the idea. Well, she has her imperfections, too. She can really be maldita at times but she's still cute (carry nya ang pagiging maldita). She's also very pintasera which I have myself and Jeng to blame, hehehe! There are times that she's tactless too. But hey, we are all just humans! I guess what I want to point out is,despite her imperfections the way she treats life in general is way beyond her age.

I just miss those times when I still can carry her around, sing walt disney songs to her and read her fairy tales before she lulls to sleep. She doesn't want to be called a baby now, I cannot blame her, she's really growing up too fast. Sooner or later, she may be different from what she is today but I'm always praying to God that she will grow up to be a fine young woman. I'm keeping my hopes up, from the looks of it she could surpass our achievements. I just hope that she will always love her ates and kuyas the way we loved her....And ooops, sorry Trian but you'll always be our baby:)

the weekend that was

Saturday

...I went to work until 12:30 then Kokoy picked me up. I volunteered to drive and we headed to Rockwell

...In Rockwell, we had lunch at Tokyo Tokyo because I was really craving for their strawberry dessert, yummy! We basically just looked around afterwards ( I saw the tube blouse I was dying to have but sorry...still no budget yet).

...We then went to Sts. Peter and Paul Church to check out some things we need to accomplish for our wedding. We also photographed the church 'coz my sister needs it for our invitation. Afterwards, we went to Makati Park & Gardens (our reception venue) to look at the place and just to make sure that our 250 guests would fit in it. I also pestered my fiance to take picture of ourselves in the fountain...hehe I showed my cutest smile and pose... only to find out that it was captured on video and not on photo!

...I want to freshen up so we headed to my place before our Lord's Day celebration for SFC.

...I was really hungry when we were having our Lord's Day celebration and so I ate 2 breads instead of just one (one sister offered her bread to me when she saw how hungry I was:0). After the celebration, my fiance gave a talk and we welcomed all the new graduates of our Christian Life Program. It was followed by the presentation of the new grads. JB's group really stood out...hahaha... with their ala Macho Dancer moves!

...Last happening of the day...we had snack with our co-members of SFC at the nearby Chowking fastfood.

Sunday

...We went to hear mass in the village where my fiance lives

... We had lunch with his family in their house

...We watched High School Reunion on TV...as usual we fell asleep while watching

...We went to Galleria afterwards and watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith ( I saw Just, my classmate in DLSU, inside the cinema)

...We had dinner in Metrowalk and had a little talk

...Our Sunday always ends up with a prayer and so that's what we did when we reached my place...we prayed together.

So that's how my weekend went. Saturday was a bliss and Sunday was such a relaxing day:)

Wedding Turmoil

I think the effect of wedding turmoil is getting into our nerves (my fiance and I). We get irritable, at times irrational, overly reactive and we experience depression every now & then. Last night was the worst so far, my fiance snapped. He was talkative when we were having dinner then when he was interrupted because of something I did, he lost his mood. Afterwards, we went to meet our friends and he was quiet the whole time. On our way home, he was still quiet. I tried to entertain him the best way I could, I talked non-stop, asked him a couple of questions, I sang ...if I could dance inside the car I would do it. I did everything but to no avail and so I lost my mood ...I must admit that I became overly sensitive and I said something that made him explode. We tried to talk (I wouldn't elaborate on the details) but I guess when you're both not in the mood, no decent and rational conversation would come out of it.

I contemplated on this when I was home. And I concluded that, we are both pressured with our wedding preparations and money constraint. I know it's just but natural but I guess what's making things worse is that we lack support from our elders particularly from our parents. My mom is so demanding (she wants to invite a lot of people whom I never saw in my entire life), she's becoming such a pain in the neck (people who knew me really well has a clue on this one). Kokoy's dad is out of the country and his stepmom may be busy with other things. A lot of our friends are offering help but of course it's different when you're actually doing the preparations with your parents. I can't help but think of my dad at this point in time. If he's still alive I know that he would be more than willing to extend his help to us. He would probably go with us in meeting people for the crucial things in our wedding. I know this because he's done the same thing during my debut and during our preparation for my sister's surprise debut party. We've done everything together. Oh well, I guess we have to accept whatever and whomever we have now. We just need to show our commitment to each other and to God now more than ever. After all, our union as husband and wife is also our union with God. We must offer all these turmoil we are going through as our sacrifice for His plan for us. We just need to keep the faith going.

Pls. pray for us as well.