“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
TS Eliot
Ten years ago, I watched Christopher Nolan's Inception. It was intellectually demanding. It was visually engrossing. It had memorable dialogue that I could imagine myself sharing with friends over a couple of cold ones. "What's the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. Which is why I have to steal it."
It was such a well-crafted cinematic experience that I start a blog and begin the long, lovingly painful process of dissecting the film and what it means.
But that was sometime ago. Things are different now.
Yesterday, I watched Inception with my wife. It was intellectually demanding. It was visually engrossing. And the dialogue? Memorable.
But I couldn't imagine myself sharing the Inception experience with friends, not even over a few cold ones. All I could think of was how important it was to live a life that you created. How important it was to always tell the truth. And how one must always confront their demons and embrace them fully one last time before letting go.
I couldn't wait for Dom Cobb to get home to his kids. And it killed me when he finally saw their faces. I'm not sure if what I felt, watching this cinematic gem with the wife I treasure above all jewels, was what Christopher Nolan intended. But I do know that it is an affirmation of what I have come to learn about love and families.
It's been awhile since my last post, for which I make no apologies. The grand experiment that is "living independently of live-in helpers" reached a critical point during the holidays. I am pleased to report that my family has not only survived the holidays. We have reinvented it.
Henceforth, Christmas in the Borra household will no longer be about spectacular holiday getaways, or wonderful gifts too big to fit under the Christmas tree.
Christmas is about hiding away over the holidays, with just Tina and the kids to snuggle underneath blankets redolent with Christmas cheer.
Christmas is about the gift of togetherness, which dwarfs any old gift that any old Santa can fit underneath any old tree.
Christmas is about living independently of helpers while remaining lovingly dependent on Jesus. May your season be as merry and bright!
One of my favorite verses from the Bible comes from Proverbs 4:23, which reminds me "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."
And so, as I digest the wonderful events of the past two weeks, allow me to welcome you to the new look of my blog with pictures of those whom I guard with all vigilance.
Juan
Manuel
Lucia
Carmen
I would have loved to post a picture of my wife, Tina, but I am so "damned in a fair wife" the inevitable comparison to the Moor of Shakespearean lore would merely draw unseemly attention to my honored state.
My birthday has come and gone, and I would like to take some time to thank the people who have made the burden of my years a willing yoke to bear.
As always, my family remains foremost in my thoughts.
My loving wife Tina, shown here with my brother-in-law Mike Puzon, Ralph Lumo, Boj Pineda, and a sleeping Juan Salvador Z. Borra.
My papa and mama. They cared enough to raise me right.
My favorite sisters, Papot, Joanna, and Therese.
My favorite father-in-law, Salvador B. Zamora II and some good friends: Eudaldo "Benjie" C. Atilano, Jr., Sherwin Mendiola, Jun Fernandez.
I would also like to thank my co-celebrant, the Philippine National Red Cross, ably represented by Geraldine Repollo and a literal cast of thousands. In lieu of my appreciation, which is impoverished when considered alongside your daily heroic, anonymous efforts, allow me to share some pictures, which may be found here.
On a lighter note, I am glad, despite my stated desire that in lieu of gifts donations be made instead to my favorite outreach organizations, some of my friends were just too stubborn to do so. Many thanks to Chuvaness and her wonderful husband, and constant World Cup viewing companion, Jeroen for the limited edition C2 My Pilipinas Moleskine notebook and the Team Manila Pepper Lunch notebook.
I am ashamed to report, as my wife will undoubtedly gleefully recount this the next time we meet, that I squealed like a girl when I opened your gifts.
Truly, my cup overflows with the milk of human kindness. Have a wonderful week!
One of the reasons why I look forward to long weekends is for the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the more idyllic concerns of family and friends. As I am still hung over from the generous amounts of rest and recreation that I wallowed deliriously in over the weekend, allow me to resort to using bullet points as opposed to coherent paragraphs in order to give an adequate summary of what transpired:
Saturday!
Ralph Lumo and the rest of Singles Encounter#6 hosted their reunion at Megatent. A reunion, especially in the context of Catholic charismatic communities is not precisely a celebration of talent. But it a celebration, of sorts. Pictures may be seen here. The video of Ralph dancing to Nobody by Korean pop group Wonder Girls may not be widely distributed due to the incendiary elements of Ralph's choreography, but a copy may be seen here.
Sunday!
I took my kids to Esteban School, where I played football with some old friends. There's nary a shot of me playing, but here's one of my lovely little princess, Lucia!
Monday!
My sister Therese came over and we watched Up. Lovely movie, and such an appropriate title. For those who have yet to watch this delightful little snowflake of a movie, please try to catch it at the nearest cinema. Carl and Ellie share only a few minutes of screen time, but they will nestle in your heart close to forever.
I find myself awake at what would normally be considered an unholy hour because of my sacred duty to my family. My eldest son, Juan, and my youngest and only princess, Lucia, needed to be lavished special attention on last night. My wife, of course, provided most of the care and affection that our little ones needed, while I mumbled and stumbled around the room as she asked me to do menial tasks to, I suspect, gracefully keep me out of her way while she did all the hard work.
As an entire nation mourned the passing of former President Corazon C. Aquino, I found myself making plans to either join the procession to Manila Cathedral, or at the very least, try to follow the events through a live web feed. Sadly, or so I though at the time, my obligations kept getting in the way of my feeble attempts to pay my respects to a bastion of democracy.
Tita Cory was not a particularly gifted leader. But she distinguished herself from all others who have held the office in recent memory by refusing to hold on to power when she had every opportunity to do so. Sometimes, the most profound expressions of love and compassion involve letting something go. And so she did, reaffirming the adage "If you love them, set them free." By refusing to prolong her stay in office, she set a sterling example of sacrifice. By refusing to linger past her appointed time, she made sure the Filipino people would remain free, if only for a while longer.
And so, this former amateur street parliamentarian, a veteran of two EDSAs, would like to thank Tita Cory for making it possible to miss her funeral. If it weren't for her selfless example in guaranteeing a democratic succession, I had a choice. I chose to spend my time with my family, a luxury that I suspect the sprawling Aquino family would rather enjoy in lieu of the complications arising from allowing an entire nation to grieve the passing of a leader while all they want to do is mourn the passing of a mother.
Requiescat in pace, Madame Corazon C. Aquino. You never outstayed your welcome. You respected our democratic institutions to perpetuate yourself in power. You will be missed.
For many people, Woodstock remains a powerful symbol of music, peace, and love. Regardless of the detritus that surrounds the purity of the experience, and by this I mean the association with promiscuity and drug use, it's nice to be reminded every once in a while that Woodstock was less about the irresponsible celebration of our less laudable passions and more about the power of love, as expressed through music, to change lives.
Nick and Bobbi Ercoline seem like an ordinary, albeit, pleasantly quirky suburban couple. We read in the online version of the Times Herald-Record:
She’s a 59-year-old nurse at Pine Bush Elementary School who collects food and clothes for needy children. He’s a 60-year-old retired business agent for a carpenter’s union who does lead and farm worker housing inspections for Orange County. The parents of two sons, Matthew, 30, and Luke, 27, live in a 10-room home on a wooded road dotted with old farms and new houses. An American flag, a statue of the Virgin Mary and a tongue-in-cheek “Hippies Use Back Door” sign greet visitors out front.
But more than a picture of domestic bliss, Nick and Bobbi Ercoline remain one of the most enduring, recognizable figures in one of the most famous concerts in recorded history. When Burk Uzzle took a snapshot of the young lovers sharing a dirty blanket amidst the massive crowd gathered at Woodstock, he provided Woodstock one of its most enduring images, in more ways than one.
Forty years later, the Ercolines are still together. Despite all, they are happily together. In the movie Almost Famous, fictional rock and roll star Jeff Bebe (played by Jason Lee) boasted that rock and roll can save the world. You know what? He's right, but not in the way most people think.
Have a wonderful day!
Photo Credits:
Picture of Nick and Bobbi Ercoline from Woodstock, 1969 comes courtesy of New York Daily News.
Picture of Nick and Bobbi Ercoline today comes courtesy of Times Herald-Record.
In the Borra household, finding common activities that are fun and involve the entire family is akin to finding the Holy Grail, and not in the fun, Monty Python sense. But the Lord is kind and merciful. Every once in a while, despite the hectic schedules that my wife and I keep, and the general level of sustained playfulness that our kids are capable of maintaining, we find ourselves in that special place where all we have to do is be thankful for the opportunity and enjoy our blessings.
Last night, prior to evening prayers, the family enjoyed the adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine before going to bed. I haven't the foggiest what the adventures of Thomas were, but I remember everyone, at one point or the other, rolling around in laughter. My second son Manuel, in particular, is sometimes difficult to please. But when he is happy, the purity of his joy is wonderful to behold. Have a blessed day!
My biggest fears, and conversely my biggest aspirations, concern my kids. Oftentimes, when I was younger, older folk would often begin their observations of my, or my generation's behavior by saying "In my time..." Like most younger folk, I would bristle inwardly about the litany to follow.
Sadly, and only because I do not share, at this moment in time, God's divine irony, I find myself wondering about how my kids will cope with the world that they have inherited from their largely irresponsible forebears. Specifically, I wonder about how my kids will react to the reality of widespread poverty, and spiritual malaise. Will they embrace their civic and Christian duties? Will they develop a healthy respect for individuals regardless of social, economic, and religious differences? Will they serve?
Yesterday, Bishop Chito Sanchez picked the entire family up to visit the orphanage of Jesus Loves the Little Children Foundation. I wanted the kids to come and see what papa does because I realize, despite my obstinacy and pride, that there is very little I can say to them, now or in the future, that will truly help them realize how important it is to love, share, and serve others. They have to see it. They have to experience it. They have to make their own, hopefully informed decisions about how to deal with the world they were born into.
And it's not just about them. Bishop Chito has been operating the orphanage since the late '90s, and the sad reality is that despite all the many technological and medical advances that Man has made in the last century, we still have to find a remedy of something more than cardiovascular: the indifference that has built around the human heart.
Bishop Chito is spearheading a fundraising event, which I am proud to be part of, for this worthy cause later this year. I would like to invite people to participate in this endeavor. There is much that remains to be done, but as these pictures attest, there are smiles to be saved.
A long, long time ago, miracles would happen at around 5:17 am. Despite the heavy carousing of the night before, miraculously, I would be crawling into my bed, dreaming of next weekend's gimmick.
Nowadays, miracles still happen at around 5:17 am. Only this time, it happened almost, ala Whitney Houston, all at once. Lucia, of course, is no stranger to the wee hours of the morning. In fact, in the Borra household, she practically invented the late-night, early-morning gimmick. Manuel and Juan, however, normally wake up a little later, a serendipitously scheduled awakening that allows their parents time to gently nudge them into the different activities that will help them get fed and ready for the day's activities.
Not today though. Miracles happen at around 5:17 am. And today, they all came crawling into our bed.
Last week, I tried on a pair of my old work pants (the ones that I used when I was still teaching in the University) and discovered, to my horror, that I could barely fit into them. My waist size, which used to be as fixed and constant as the Northern Star, went all crazy on me. I suppose life with a 28-inch waist does augur well for things to come, but I can't help but pine for the good old days when I could joyfully claim a 26-inch waistline. Oh well.
In the meantime, allow me to share some positive milestones in my life. True to form, these milestones are all centered on my family. Comic book geeks who can't wait for another article from Benjamin Loong will have to wait till the end of the week.
Please check out the pictures from Juan and Manuel's Culminating Activity at Teacher Marlene J. Villegas Preschool here and here. Enjoy!
I spent a wonderful afternoon at Everest Academy talking about how ordinary citizens can provide better alternatives to the measures proposed in House Bill 5043. Most, if not all, of the speakers insisted that developing the proper perspective regarding reproductive health should involve both the parents and their children. In my capacity as resource speaker for both the I AM S.T.R.O.N.G program and I Keep Love Real, I suggested that the interaction between parents and their children should take the form of a continuing conversation as opposed to magisterial lectures dripping with all pomp, verbosity, and the promise of fire and brimstone that indignant and well-meaning parents are wont to deliver in the heat of the moment.
Sadly, the continuing conversation that I had begun in my tv show, Juan on Juan, has to end. Despite the fact that the show had been performing beyond expectations, I chose to stop doing the show precisely because I wanted to spend more time nurturing my growing family. My advocacy, which is really about the choice to love, begins at home. There is no question in my mind that as much as I love having a forum to promote intelligent discussion of my favorite causes, I love my family more. And so, with as little pomp and circumstance as I can muster, I bid a fond farewell to my burgeoning career as a tv personality. Thank you to all the people who came on the show, and to all the people who, despite the horribly inconvenient time slot, faithfully followed the program.
And now, more ordinary than ever, I continue to support life by helping my family grow in love. What a blessing!
February is Pro-Life Month, and my friends in the Pro-Life Movement have been very busy of late. My good friends Sunnyday, with her talented writer/puppeteer Nicole have been making the long trek to congress to show support for our pro-life legislators in the deliberations regarding the RH Bill. Buding Dee, Amelia Anne Alba and the lovely ladies of Latch Philippines also came out to enliven the otherwise heated debates with their quiet strength and bubbly charm. Maybe next time, ladies, you will allow a solitary thorn to invade your quorum of roses?
Another good friend, Derek Ross of True Love Waits, has also been busy putting the finishing touches on Unashamed, a Purity Conference to be held on February 21, 2009, at the Megatent, 30 Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Central Business District, Pasig City. Derek is a staunch supporter of the pro-life movement, and we're all praying that the conference draws many youth and youth leaders into a continuing discussion on purity, character, and love.
For more details regarding what ordinary people like us can do to truly celebrate love this February, get in touch with Pro-Life Philippines, or drop Derek a line at barkadahan@wagmuna.com.
As a writer of some ability, I rarely publish anything in full. I suppose it's because of a certain amount of vanity that I possess (to some extent) that all failed writers use to validate their rants. But this letter by Manoling de Leon at Pinoy Pilgrim deserves to be published in full. Many thanks to my editor, Diana Uichanco, for sharing the letter with me through e-mail.
January 31, 2009
His Excellency Barack Hussein Obama President United States of America
Dear Mr. President:
Some six months ago at the Saddleback Forum when the topic of abortion was discussed, your Excellency admitted that the question of when human life begins was beyond your pay grade. It is therefore with fear and trembling that I learned that one of your first acts as the new President was to overturn the executive orders restored by your predecessor barring U.S. government funds from any foreign or domestic agency that promoted or performed abortions.
This single unthinking act wiped away any semblance of the benefit of the doubt I willingly invested in you during the campaign: that you were the true maverick and not the impostor like your opponent. Now I know better: you look like a politician cut from the same wretched cloth.
I expected you to do better. Anyone whose mind is mired in doubt on such a vital issue as to when life begins would first seek to clear up matters. You did not. Instead, you swallowed wholesale the unscientific argument, believed by countless people whose pay grades are much lower than yours, that a fertilized egg of twelve weeks is not human and could be disposed of medically and flushed down the drain. Or worse, as you recently signed too, an embryo could be experimented on, genetically tested, or played around with as a specimen at the mercy of high pay grade professionals in white lab coats.
These are some of the basic reasons why I and other citizens of the developing world quake with fear. It is ironic that such a seemingly enlightened politician – who campaigned on a platform of change we could believe in, who enjoyed the triumph of struggle against all the odds that defined him, and who has been an inspiration to many people – signed into law a policy that would eliminate the same opportunity from shaping the minds and hearts of future generations of young people and leaders.
One other thing. Just the other day, you ranted and raved against the outsized bonuses Wall Street bankers gave themselves for their rotten performance in the past year. Unfortunately, your Excellency has no moral authority to do that, because by allowing abortions to resume and stem cell research to be conducted without regard for their moral dimensions, you have acted like someone whose pay grade has been raised beyond those of the bankers you so vehemently condemned.
True, every nation gets the government it deserves. The United States and its President are woven from the same culture, the same woof and warp that led it to its moment of crisis. Mr. President, the greatest problem you and your nation face is not purely financial, and neither is it just economic nor legal. It’s much deeper than that, and one need not have a high pay grade to realize that your nation’s problem is rooted in moral turpitude. As the axe of investigative vengeance falls on the Madoffs and Fulds who made off with the billions from fooled investors, not only in America, we hope you and your government learn from the lessons of history that mighty empires are not lost overnight by the actions of a corrupt few. Every worldly kingdom – Persia, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, France, Ottoman, Prussia, Spain and England – eventually collapsed because of the moral weakness of its leaders. If you learn from the lessons of history – and we hope your teachers were at the right pay grade so you learned from them – then America will not join this sorry list of losers. We hope, at the least, that you would not hasten the beginning of the end.
Mr. President Obama, not all is lost. It’s not yet too late. We in the Third World chuckle at the kind of democratic politics you have in the West, because there is not much difference between you and us. We too have low pay grade politicians running our affairs, deciding on matters beyond their pay grade, and making the same stupid mistakes signing into law popular policies on issues they don’t understand. Like the poor Americans who voted you into office, we too suffer the follies of our rulers. We bleed when untimely ripped from our mothers’ wombs. We cry when our hard-earned money is taxed and wasted.
And we tremble, because you have condemned us to suffer the evil that threatens to multiply when economists like your advisers, bankers like those you condemn, and politicians like you who are unthinking decide on matters beyond your pay grade. We tremble at such inconsistencies, because in your efforts to find and punish the culprits that led to the crisis we face, you will discover that without the moral fiber your nation is sorely lacking, you would collectively point accusing fingers at the less powerful: the immigrants, unborn babies, and millions of workers in the world who are on the receiving end of the collective monumental stupidities which we hoped you would stop.
Though we tremble in fear, we also tremble with hopeful anticipation of your willingness to learn. You are powerful, not because of your pay grade but because you symbolize change. You can turn the status quo upside down, injecting a sorely needed moral imagination to your dying nation in a world wallowing in the throes of legislated extinction. You campaigned on an optimistic platform of change, responsibility, accountability, a better life and progress for all. Having gone so far and succeeded against all odds, you more than anyone should know that the best things in life have a moral dimension that go beyond pay grades, titles, and mandates.
Dear Mr. President, you talk of our era as the Age of Responsibility. This is a powerful concept with a deep moral dimension. One cannot talk of responsibility without consideration of right and wrong, truth and falsehood. If the Age of Responsibility you speak of would be but a continuation of the shallow, two-dimensional, and hedonistic world your people in the West know so well, then you will fail. However, if the Age of Responsibility you herald were to remind the world’s people of our common humanity, our shared goals of respect and appreciation for each other’s beliefs and differences and the admission that there lie beyond us realities we may not fully comprehend but that we must respect and cherish, then you truly could be the leader of real change in the world.
You can, Mr. President, symbolize the rebirth of humanity and the dawn of a new age. You more than anyone else would know what direction a genuine democracy must take for true human freedom to take root and flourish. You are in the unique position as the ruler of the first democratic superpower the world has ever known to chart the course of world history and bring the present and future generations to a destiny our common ancestors could only dream about.
Follow your heart, enlightened by your mind, and lead us. You know the right thing to do. Every world crisis results from the lack of good and just people ready to give up their lives to do what is right. America wants you to lead us to a New World, not the old one where unborn babies don’t have rights, where colored peoples are discriminated against, and where the poor have no one to care for them. I, and billions of people the world over, trust you to lead us by example through this New Age of Responsibility. Please don’t waste that trust.
A London Telegraph reporter ventured to say that you are an emperor without clothes, that you are all bluster and pomp, and that when America discovers you to be in the same mold as your predecessors Harding and Jackson, there will be a revolution so great that its threat to the world would not be matched by that which made us tremble during the Cold War years. We hope he’s wrong, not only for our sake, but more especially for the sake of Michelle, Sasha, and Malia. They deserve better, and you can make sure they do. Sincerely yours,
Manoling de Leon Senior Citizen Republic of the Philippines
While there is much to admire in the newly-minted US president, there is also much which invites concern. It's not enough to mollify conservative Christian elements in the US by choosing a Catholic vice-president, especially a Catholic who invites attention by asserting that "The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat." (Thanks to ProLifeBlogs.com for the link!)
It's more important to, remarks regarding the use of rosaries for martial purposes notwithstanding, address the valid concerns that these elements raise.
What is President Obama's stand on reproductive health? What is his stand on abortions? Will he encourage a culture that promotes and nurtures life?
My little princess, Lucia Consuelo Zamora Borra, will be baptized at 4 pm tomorrow at Sta. Rosa de Lima. Fr. Gary Soria will preside over the baptism. Delfin Jude G. Uy and Roman Miguel de Jesus, after months of casting aspersion at one another's ability to be the best possible godfather to Lucia, will accompany shoo-in godparents Bodie Zamora, Cecile Zamora Van Straten, and Tonette Reyes in welcoming Lucia to the Christian world.
Avid viewers of my talk show, Juan on Juan, will have to content themselves with previously aired episodes of my show, as my daughter's baptism takes precedence even over my loyal late night audience. In lieu of gifts, prayers would be most welcome.
Normally, my wife and I are pleasantly exhausted by the end of the day. But last night was a good night: Juan and Manuel were more or less behaving at the dinner table, Lucia was as content as any little princess about to be baptized could be, and I found that my workload had resolved itself to the point that I didn't have to slave over some thing or the other before calling it a night.
It was then when I exercised the authority vested in me as spiritual and moral head of the family.
I don't know whether it's Zachary Levi (the actor who plays Chuck) is cut from the same mold as Tina's other favorite leading men (Zach Braff from Scrubs, Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy) or the largely wholesome nerdish good fun of the show, but Chuck's quickly become our go-to tv show of choice lately.
I came across this interesting article which read Greeley girls basketball team beats Boulder school 94-1. Like most people who read the article, my heart went out to Boulder school, and partly because my formative years were spent hating the Cobra Kai in The Karate Kid and rooting for the underdog in The Bad News Bears, I was ready to spew vitriol at Frontier Academy (Greeley), proof positive that I didn't really outgrow my childhood traumas, I just acquired a wider vocabulary. But then I read that:
"I've had 100 points scored on me before, and I think it's important to respect the game and to respect your opponent," Frontier Academy head coach Nathan Buxman said this morning in a phone interview. "We show the most respect for our opponents by continuing to play hard."
As my wife and I continue to struggle raising our kids, it's tempting to sometimes give both our kids and ourselves a free ride every now and then. Sometimes we all feel that, with the current state of local and international affairs, the world is harsh enough on the people we love. Shouldn't we extend some compassion their way?
Then I realize, as a parent, that I'm not supposed to make it "easier" for my kids. I'm supposed to make their every experience mean something. Whether it's magnifying a magical moment or letting them take their lumps just like everybody else, all I can really do is make sure that whatever they go through is worth it all, in the end.
So thank you Frontier Academy for not taking it easy on Boulder. It's a welcome reminder of how our struggles, in the end, should mean something.
As I had blogged earlier, my wife and I are trying to make do with less help, literally. Of course, as soon as we had decided to do so, the world went all weird on us. Juan alternately got sick, got better, then got sick again, and we're not even sure that it all happened in that order. Despite Tina's best attempts to purge her diet of all possible allergens that she could pass on to the extremely allergic bundle of joy that is Lucia, our pretty little baby princess suffered a particularly nasty attack last night that left her angelic face covered in rashes. Manuel discovered my secret stash of Belgian chocolates, which is really the equivalent of handing Manuel the keys to the house for the next few hours or so. Manuel sans sugar is already very assertive; Manuel hopped up on sugar is absolutely despotic.
Still, I was able to get to work by 10 am, and when I left all seemed well. Moreover, when I left, my boys cried out "See you later!" First, we have to bring home the cured belly of a swine carcass. After that, yes, I'll see you later. Till then, take care of your mama, without whose devoted parenting, you would be in more of a chocolate covered mess than you guys already are.
Sorry for not being to update this blog more often. Originally, I thought that my first blog entry would be an whapologeticy one: both whiny and apologetic. I've done that before, mind you. The entry would begin with a heartfelt apology, quickly followed by not so subtle whining about my heavy workload, coupled with my concern for my family life, and so on, in a mind-numbingly self-serving cycle. And so, after a hectic holiday season where my wife and I took on the almost unassisted personal care of our three kids for most of the break, I fully expected to unleash world-beating whapologetics on my hapless readers.
Guess what? After a period of adjustment, I'm really enjoying the extra time I'm spending with my kids. Moreover, my wife and I are trying to take care of our kids sans the usual complement of the 6th Infancy Division and the 1st Diaper Rangers. We have exactly one helper at home, the versatile Ate Imelda, and our midwife, Ate Chari for our darling baby girl, and that's it. It might not seem like much, particularly to my loyal readers from the Western hemisphere, but it's a big step for Tina and myself.
In my chat with Fr. Gary Soria yesterday, I shared how this simplified lifestyle that Tina and I have been thrust into is in fact, a blessing. Our vision for our kids includes loving self-sufficiency and industriousness. How seriously will they take our paeans to the virtue of hard work, simplicity, and serenity if they grow up in a household where they never see Mama and Papa take their turns doing the dishes, or making the beds, or cleaning up around the house? Given the precociousness of my little ones, they would see through our inauthenticity in seconds. And so, our great experiment begins. Everyday is now a magical adventure, and this blog, for better or worse, will be where I will alternately gush, whine, despair and triumph.
"Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul. Pessimism is at best an emotional half-holiday; joy is the uproarious labour by which all things live...Christianity satisfies suddenly and perfectly man's ancestral instinct for being the right way up; satisfies it supremely in this; that by its creed joy becomes something gigantic and sadness something special and small."
I celebrate life. Do you?
Image by Profound Whatever via Flickr
