The seven people you meet on the street

This is my own version of my favorite book "the seven people you meet in heaven" and this just happened last week.

The guard
I met him a couple of times before whenever i had the chance to be in McDo El Pueblo and he does'nt fail to bring a smile to my face everytime i had an encounter with him. He is the most and I mean this with all my heart, the most friendly and accommodating guard i have ever met. :) While walking towards the fastfood resto, a few meters away, i already saw him waving at me and my husband and i gave the "was he waving at us?" look. and yes, he was waving at us and greeting us with "good afternoon, dito na kayo kumain." we will really go there as i was scheduled to meet someone but you know the feeling that he gives you, the very charming way of greeting you and inviting you for lunch. While entering the fastfood, i glanced upon him talking to another customer who was satisfied with his service. i don't know, his aura was really contagious. :) He even asked for my parking ticket and volunteered to have it validated. I remember the time when i had a dress up there, he was very accommodating helping me with my stuff and showing me the room where we can set-up the decors. He was genuinely nice. And it's comforting to know that yes, there are still people like him.

The teller
I'd always go to the same banks i'm used to primarily because it's convenient. Maila is one of the tellers that I became acquainted with. And it took us a while before we really got to know each other by name and those small conversations while waiting for the print out of my deposit slips turned into longer talks. :) I like that she is fascinated with my daughter. She does'nt give me special treatment at the bank, i always line up but i'd always hope that she'd be the one to queu me. :)

The homeless
I know i've written about this guy before here in my blog and seeing him again on the street brought some memories. From the moment i learned how to drive, i managed to pass by the same route from my then office to home. as in the same route, and side of the road etc. And at one intersection in ortigas, i always see him. He begs for food or money. What sets him apart from the other who would ask was that he walks using his bare hands. He has polio. He can only walk using his two hands and right food and he would literally crawl to my window asking for whatever i can give him. I used to buy a pack of bread for him and give everything just so he has food and i would consciously pass by his "territory" the same time i always see him just so i could give whatever amount i can. When i resigned, i never saw him again. I changed routes. But one day, i saw him again and he was still asking for money, he was still crawling to the window but he grew up. After a man gave him money, I saw him walking towards the side street and he sat and lit his cigarette. And beside him was a plastic of rugby. My initial reaction was anger. I thought that many people try to help him so he might as well help himself. But come to think of it, i could'nt judge him. Nobody can. And then there was guilt. I thought that i could have helped more but was'nt able to.

The mother
I meet a lot and I mean a lot of moms. I meet them everyday of my life. I schedule meetings with them for the kid's parties, i share with them the struggles we all go through as moms and i laugh with every comic stories they share with me. The other day I met her. She's preparing for her daughter's birthday in october. what sets her apart was her daughter is a test tube baby. yes, i thought i'd only know about it in the net but the daughter that she was carrying was a product of 10 years of waiting, lots and lots of needles and treatments, financial struggles and emotional battle. She was teary eyed talking about her and i was more teary eyed listening to her story. I though i felt her pain, her joy, her doubts, her fears. And she reminded me of the bliss when i gave birth to simone. She reminded me that i'm blessed that we did'nt have to go through that but i'm inspired by her that she embraced everything with a leap of faith. She and her husband is a couple who has gone through a lot. And she was honest enough to admit that she fears of having another baby. Aside from having to go through everything, she fears more that she won't be able to give the same love as she has for her daughter now. and i quote her saying, "eto na yung lahat-lahat ng love ko e, baka wala nako mabigay sa susunod and it's unfair". Honestly, i can totally relate to what she said. But of course, there will always be enough love for our children. I'm sure God is willing to provide all of those for us. :)


The boss
I was just two months of a fresh graduate when i had my first formal job and it's the only job i learned to love before i resigned to venture in something that i love more. I was introduced to him while he was cleaning his desk and from then on, i always called him "tito ocs". He was one of my bosses. He taught me how to be organized (but im not sure if i learned right), he taught me to be objective all the time, never mind what people say as long as you do your job. He taught me that it's always nice to be early, if not on time. And most of all, he taught me that bosses, as bossy as they seem, have soft hearts as fathers. I would always remember him talking about his children and how proud he is of them. I knew I'm one of the few people he can share his fatherly stories with and i'm so glad he did. He would always tell me that i'm like his daughter and at times, he would ask if he made the right decision when it comes to disciplining his kids. he's needs a little loosening of the belt, hehe. beneath the strict and serious father image, his face emits this pure joy when he talks about them and i will always treasure those small talks over coffee. Thank you tito ocs and your passing was a big shock. I thought i should have seen you again but you know that you will always be my tito ocs. :)

To be continued...

The one with house blessing

Actually, it's more of Neyo's 2nd month birthday and Chell's birthday too. We visited them in their house for the first time and we had so much fun. I could not believe that my brother in law has a Starbucks signage at home. He had one done, as in exactly the same. Moreso, they also prepared real starbucks coffee for us, caramel macchiato please. and mind you, in starbucks coffee mugs and tissues. hahaha, and i thought i'm the only starbucks addict in the family. :) When i first entered, i immediately smelled the aroma of the coffee and shouted, "wow, starbucks!" hahaha...of course, i know my addiction well :)

I also love their home. It's so cozy and pieces are very well chosen. Brought me back to the time when Simon and I were living in our small apartment and we'd have all the time to arrange our house furnitures and be able to display small pieces for the houses. Now, we just can't. Since we have a growing toddler, everything had to be packed, everything that might break. So all of us were telling them that once neyo learns to walk, hahaha, the good old days of having those displays and furnitures will be missed. ;)

Of course, we took pictures. We love pictures! and in my attempt to become a photographer, here are some of my shots:

i absolutely love this shot! obviouse ba it's the first to be posted. hahaha. i feel like a pro! bwahaha.

love chell's emotions here. nothing beats a candid shot. parang gusto sabihin ni neyo, "iniipit nyo ko e."

caught neyo's serious look. hehe. he looks like his daddy here! he's such a charmer. gwapito! and he's not a cry baby!

this, i love too! i did'nt know babies are hard to shoot. as in, i wanted to have so many pictures but i never realized i'd only like some coz they're so mobile that a little move will make the pic blurry.

it's very seldom that you see all the Tan siblings together. And i have this subconscious way of always documenting it.

Don't you just love how he stare???

Chell and Neyo

Mommy and baby shot. I initially attempted to do the same concept for Chris and Neyo but Neyo kept on moving. hahaha. when i saw this, I immediately took a shot. would have been better if neyo's hands are open but yeah, it's still nice! you gotta love your own :)

don't you just love seeing parents staring at their babies like these two pics???

of course, the two achies of the family. nice noh???

neyo's shoes!

these next two shots made me realized that i think im better taking non-life subjects. hahaha.

I wanted to post some of our pictures here but i'm just too fat right now. hahaha. i know, best diet pills won't work for me right now. what can i do, i looove to eat!

The one with all grown up

It's been a while since I wrote something about Simone. I missed blogging (err, bragging) about her milestones that i discover everyday.

She's all grown up. Yes, I really don't want to admit this but she really is. Hey, im not overacting but I can't believe that she's not a baby anymore. This realization started when i heard her asked her ate maru, "ate, what you doin'?" She has started to make conversations as if she can understand what we needed to say or how to explain things. but as they say, never underestimate kids. That's why we always talk to her like when you talk to an adult.

She does'nt drink Wilkins anymore. The only water that survived her thru her infant years is not a necessity anymore. And while I was pouring water from our own water dispenser to her bottle, i realized that yeah she does'nt need those water filters anymore. Suddenly I felt that she does'nt need too much clean water, she can take a little dirt sometimes coz she is growing up. Suddenly, it's like a metaphor. She does'nt need to be in her crib all the time, she can fall and bruise her knee or bump her head sometimes, you think she needs it so she'll grow strong and brave.

She has her own seat on our dining set. Recently, we bought a new dining set to replace the two-seater round table that we used to have. Though it took us a while before we were able to buy a family dining set, i personally think that the timing can never be more perfect. It was the time that Simone has learned to really eat all by herself, sit more comfortably on her own chair. She sits beside mommy and daddy takes the "breadwinner" seat. :)

She wants to wear her clothes by herself. She still needs to be guided but if she'd have a choice, she'd want to do it by herself. She chooses what she'd like to wear too. She has become more sure of what she wants and just like mommy, she wants the nicest things ;)

Love you simone. :)

The one with still on the hunt

We are still on our house hunting and it's just so hard to find the home for you. And it makes it harder that we are on a tight budget. One option actually is to not "rush" things and just save and save until we find what we're looking for. The other side is we've set a timeline for ourselved that before we enroll simone in a school, we need to have a house that we own. That way, expenses don't pile up in front of us, sort of taking it one at a time. We've also looked at foreclosed properties but we still prefer the brand new ones. We've considered townhouses but out hearts are set with a detached home with a backyard and a provision for expansion. We've also tried pre-selling options but the one that we wanted does'nt have a working permit yet, making it harder to start paying for it since there might still be problems with permits and construction. The money that we will invest with that will be the only money alloted for the house so we really need to spend wisely.

I hope the house hunt comes to end soon. :) All in perfect time :)

The one with marathon

My eyes are strained right now. I marathoned the latest season of Desperate Housewives. I slept at 530am in the morning and just tried hard to stop watching. hahaha. I stopped at the episode where Edie dies and they had to bring the urn to her son. Watching the episode made me realized that yes, friends are really important and that no matter how different we are from our friends, it's a relief that we are surrounded with people who stick with us no matter what. I laughed at the scene where the old lady (forgot the name) had to change the tire since no motorhome towing was around when they had a flat tire. none of them knew how to change a tire. made me realized that i myself does'nt know how to. my brother taught me but it just slipped knowing that i registered our car in a towing company. hahaha.

Hopefully I'd be able to continue my marathon, if my eyes stop from twitching. ;)