The Year That Was 2008

I received so many blessings during 2008 - most gifts I never expected would come my way. He truly is a very generous God. I just can't thank Him enough. Let me enumerate these gifts. I guess I won't be able to list them all because literally there are just too many. But I will try. This is a good time to pause, reflect and appreciate what a wonderful life it has been.

Harley

He is simply the perfect guy for me. Minsan sinusumpong ako ng pagka-tangengots ko, but he still tries to understand and let me be Me. I had too many sablays during our 3 weeks vacation. I accidentally spilled a bottle of anti-frizz hair serum on his precious passport. Buti na lang di nabasa yung front page and yung active Kuwaiti visa nya nyehehe. Another major boo-boo I committed was, we were already in Manila when I found out that I left my own passport in Cebu, eh I needed that for our flight to HongKong the following day! So he flew back to Cebu, met my father at the airport who handed him my passport and boarded the next flight back to Manila (ngerks!). Hindi pa tapos, there's one more... I had forgotten to print my eTicket back to UK -- okay lang sana if I had forwarded the email bearing the eTicket from my company mail to my Gmail but no!! I had no good sense to do that. So we scoured Makati to look for a KLM office and found it closed kasi 26 yun, holiday. It was only after I contacted Jhovie (our HR who had issued the eTicket) that I saw light at the end of the tunnel. Harley then drove me to our empty Makati, logged on to Jhovie’s PC (good thing she gave me her access) and printed out the ticket. Darn! What a way to spend our last day in Manila together! 

But Harley was super understanding. He got crossed of course – I would be worried if he didn’t because even a saint would lose his temper on me – but he was able to forgive me after I batted my eyelashes and pleaded at him with my best imitation of a forlorn puppy look. He is very forgiving. Swerte ko talaga. Iba pa nun siguro flying kick that would send me all the way to UK inabot ko. At least I wouldn’t even need that darn eTicket…

Oh by the way, 2008 got me engaged to this wonderful guy! And if I have to rank all blessings, that is probably on the top of my list. Good thing he didn’t break the engagement after all those sablays. Or maybe he thought of it but abandoned the idea realizing he has already “invested” too much on our wedding. Mwehehehe, it’s too late for him to back out so pwede pala sumablay ulit! *grin*

Parents

I do believe my relationship with my parents is better than ever. Yes I was far away for most of last year but ironically I was able to talk to them and listen to them more than ever. Thank you Skype! My parents’ health, especially my father’s, is also getting better. Okay they really have to pop those pills but if that’s what it take to make them feel better now, that’s fine.

Sugar

I am so grateful I have a very hardworking sister. We don’t have any trouble telling her to study. In fact, it’s the other way around…we’re having trouble persuading her to lie-low studying because she’s seriously losing lots of sleep (baka ma-praning hehehehe). Also now she’s growing up (dalaga ka na, hindi na bata, kay raming pagbabago, nakakapanibago). So she can relate to me, we now have lots of topics to talk about. But I’m kinda worried when she informed me that she’s not liberated yet. Bakit may ‘yet’ pa??? :-S

Long Lost Brothers

2008 brought me another surprise. It's something I never expected to happen but something I had been longing for since I was still a little girl. That is, I made contact with my Kuyas from my father’s first family. I inevitably had to meet them (and they had to meet me) when my father was confined in a hospital April of 2008. It started off awkward but tensions were soon broken and we chatted away and finally I had the chance to get to know them better and also my pamangkins (I have 5 older brothers, all are married – yep lumaki bigla family ko!). It was a precious moment – a dream come true for me.  

Friends

Ahhh one can never enjoy the journey that is life without friends. I’m grateful that I haven’t lost contact with all of them. I can even say that the bonds I have with my closest friends are getting stronger. Ganito na yata pag chronologically mature na. You care less of collecting new friends but more concerned of nurturing your relationships with your old friends whom you had shared not only the good times but also the hellish chapters of your life. We’re scattered all over the world but we frequently exchange not only emails but also packages of kaartehan. I am so grateful they’re still there. I hope all of them can attend our wedding this December.

Travels

The icing on the cake... 2008 catapulted me to 4 countries I hadn’t been before – Scotland, Wales, Switzerland and HongKong. Amazing! I don’t know if I can ever top this record in any of the coming years.

See the year that was 2008 brought me lots of fabulous gifts. I hope it also did for all of you. Tell us of your 2008 blessings… blog away! 

Happy New Year to all! Enjoy the year of the OKs. It's going be A-OK for all (^-^)/