A Case of Verbal Diarrhea

I feel so sleepy and I have a training session starting in half an hour. I am not looking forward to it at all. I knew it was a bad idea to go out for gyros at 10:30 pm last night but it was a last minute invitation from a bunch of friends to celebrate one of the guy’s big mile stone. So even though Steve and I were already getting ready for bed when we got the phone call, we decided to go anyway. I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before either so all I feel like doing right now is jumping into bed and just sleeping.

Our CEO and his wife just had a baby – their firstborn – so Steve and I decided to get them a present. I had just finished wrapping it the other night, complete with ribbons and all, when I realized that I had actually wrapped the card with the present. So dumb of me. The plan was to leave the gift on his desk but since stupid me decided to wrap the gift with the card inside, now I have to personally hand him the gift and explain that the card is wrapped inside. Ugh!! I can only imagine what he is going to think of it. I can’t even wrap a present properly.

I am considering having a physical check-up one of these days. I suspect that I have low blood because I keep getting bruises, I am always tired and I get dizzy really easily. Every time I mention these symptoms to anyone, the response I often get is the “are you pregnant?” inquiry. I know I’m not but people always give me that quizzical, are-you-hiding-something-from-me look. Like I would hide that kind of happy news! Crazy!

Being a newly-wed, I always get asked “how’s married life?” and I always reply with either “It’s good, pretty much the same as when we were dating except we see each other all the time..” or “It’s okay... it’s good.” Let me tell you, apparently replying with the latter is not good. I think the expected reply is “It’s GREAT! I LOVE being Married!” where you proceed to jump up and down gleefully and clap your hands like an excited little girl. Hehehehe! Just kidding. Seriously though, I don’t know what people expect to hear but when I say that being married is okay and that it’s good, they look like they’re expecting more. But in Filipino, when someone asks, “kamusta ka naman?” and you answer with “okay naman” it’s usually a good thing. I guess when using the same expression in English where your reply is a mere “okay”, it’s worrisome. Truth is, I love being married. Yes, there are things that didn’t change from when we were dating and there are things that are new and require some getting used to and there are things that are worse and things that are better. But that’s married life.

The other question I get asked often is whether I like kids and if we’re going to have some. I love kids and yes I would love to have some. Then before I can continue, someone will interrupt and say, “I think you should wait before having them.... it’s a lot of responsibility... wait till you are ready, are stable, when you no longer want to party,...” yada yada yada... it always annoys me... just because I said that I love kids and would love to have some doesn’t necessarily mean I’m trying to get pregnant now. Sometimes I think it’s a trick question you know? It’s like there’s no safe way of answering it without getting some form of lecture or advice. I think next time, I will begin by saying, “We’re waiting to have kids for now but yes I would love to have one when we are ready...” The funny thing is, I know that the closer I get to thirty, the more pressure we’ll be getting to have kids. I’m telling you, you’re either too young to have them or you’re getting too old and you should be thinking of trying to have one. It’s like when you’re engaged and you hear people saying you’re too young to get married or when you’re not in a relationship and you hear people asking you why and then telling you that you’re getting older so you should be thinking of settling down soon. It’s as if you could will your future spouse to come at the right time when people feel you should get married. “Um, do you mind coming into my life when I’m 26 years old and then we can date for about 2 years and then we can marry by the time I’m 28 because that would just be perfect.”

Aaannnyyyhow, I’ve had mixed feelings about the weather lately. I’ve always said how big of a fan I am of warm weather and how I’d rather be hot than be freezing. But it’s been so humid and hot these past few days that it has made sleeping at night a bit uncomfortable. We don’t have airconditionig in our place so it does get really muggy really easily. As a suggestion (if anyone could actually suggest weather and temperature conditions), I would prefer to have hot days and cool nights. Not cold – just cool”er”. That way, it would make sleeping a bit more pleasant.

We were invited to a BBQ this weekend and have been asked to bring meatballs for at least 100 people. So we’re probably going to be spending our Saturday afternoon up to our elbows in ground beef, flour, eggs, mint, onions and breadcrumbs. I’ve never made 100 meatballs before so it should be quite an adventure. I hope we don’t show up for the event smelling like cooking oil!

A Sad Passing...

I had to work during the Civic Holiday so I get tomorrow off instead. Yay! I’ve been meaning to do some errands and catch up on a few things so I’m pretty happy about getting the day off. The only downside is that Steve doesn’t get it off with me so he’ll be stuck at work the entire day. Bummer.

While on MSN the other day, I came across the sad news of Cory Aquino passing away. I am always stunned when I hear about such a prominent and influential individual passing away. I was surprised when Francis M. and Michael Jackson died and I got that exact same shock when I found out about Cory. I can’t help but feel that they were taken away too soon. I remember my dad telling us about the EDSA revolution. I was only a few months shy of being a three-year old at the time and my brother, JR, barely a year old when it occurred. As no one knew how the revolution was going to turn out or what it would mean for the Filipino people, my dad was apparently very worried that it might mean hoarding of goods and supplies and shortage of food. He was particularly worried about the possibility of the shortage of milk – being a dad to two very young children. So he had taken all the money he had with him to the grocery store and bought all the baby formula he could afford. My parents had bought enough baby formula to fill up a small cabinet. They wanted to be sure that if anything should happen, we wouldn’t go starving. Yes, it’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things but I love knowing that my parents always put us first in every situation. It’s one of the many sacrifices they’ve done for our benefit which is why I love my parents very much.

I saw an eighteen-minute snippet of Kris Aquino’s speech during the funeral ceremony and I couldn’t help but get a bit emotional. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a parent. I don’t even want to think of it.

I look forward to a time when death will be no more.

As Revelation 21:4 says:

And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.