I was sitting in a favorite Thai restaurant when I overheard something wonderful from a table close by me. There were around 6-7 people sitting at this round table enjoying lunch as they were saying goodbye to a woman, a co-worker. After their meal, each one around the table shared a word and its meaning, which described what this woman meant to them. Beautiful words like generous, creative, enthusiastic were shared. It was quite moving. It was a simple yet powerful gift. The woman was clearly honored by these words.

I wonder, how often do we express kind words to one another? It is simple. It is powerful.

A Fine Day

A brisk fall day always puts me in a good mood! It's nice and cool, I actually had to put on turtleneck. Aah...so today was Rosh Hashana and for me it was "bring your kid to work day!" And so it was...we started heading south toward Chicago and I blurted out that I was low on gas. "Mom, you'll have to turn right on Oakton so you can get gas. I know where all the gas stations are..." Hmm...how does he know? So I headed straight down Ridge Ave, past Oakton and I hear this, "Hey mom, you forgot to turn on Oakton, are you going to the Shell station instead?" Hmm...allright, I did stop at the Shell staion. I really was running low.

The rest of the day went like this: Nicholas made a lunch date with Mae. Nicholas help put address labels on the church newletters. Nicholas spent time on pbssprouts. We had a wonderful lunch at Sabai Dee with Ramona and Mae. Nicholas devoured Pho Lao and Lychee Smoothie. Nicholas was taken to a park by Ramona. I was free to go back and finish up with work. We came home about 3:30. I did not have to cook dinner so Nicholas and I took our bikes for a spin.

Aah...what a fine day.

sum of our everyday

This is what happened yesterday, my seven year old boy asked, "Mom, what does confidence mean?" Of course this boy has a habit of asking questions when I am in the midst of fixing dinner or mid stream...so today was not an exception. When I am most preoccupied or when I am most vulnerable I get bombarded.

So what do I say, I can hardly think while I add cajun spices and taco sauce to a macerated rotisserie chicken (macerated, only because today I decided to practice using my food processor). Confidence, hmm...at this point I can think of "lack of confidence" as I attempt to answer this question. This is how the conversation went, as I had to turn off dinner to attend to some greater need.

me: Do you remember the time we took off the training wheel from your bicycle?

nwf: Uh-huh...

me: Well you cried and complained and you were afraid you'd fall that you never, ever wanted to ride the bike again. But we kept telling you that it would be okay, we would not let anything bad happen to you, we'll be right behind you the whole time. Meantime we lowered the seat so he could easily touch the ground, we biked him around, holding on to the steering wheel. There was a time when he would just scoot around or go down an incline and tried hard to balance himself. This went on for months. Then one day it all came together.

nwf: Yeah...

me: Well, just a couple of days ago, you decided to try again and because you practiced so many times, you had confidence that you could do it. You are no longer afraid. So lately, after breakfast I hear, "are we going bike riding today mom?"

Fall is peeking around the corner

I meant to write some more of our Beijing trip but I was sidetracked by a brisk, cool, fall air and the summer heat just became a memory. I love fall. I love the cool "shorts and sweater" weather that comes with it.

It just so happened, as I was tidying my papers, that I came across crock pot recipes. I can't wait to get at 'em...the savory stews...yum and off course, to finally turn the oven on...yeah, banana bread...mmm...adding to this list all the fall activities: apple picking and apple pie; Halloween Party; raking those colorful leaves...aah...fall is coming...

Beijing-A Whole New World

Roof ornamentations from the Forbidden City...this is just to whet your appetite. More details to come.

Mother's Day

This will be the first mother's day without my mother. It is particularly hard as I miss her presence very much. I miss the way she laughed. It was loud. Come to think of, she was just loud, more so as her hearing started to deteriorate. I miss her stories and gossips of friends and relatives. I miss stopping by her house to eat filipino dishes. I miss the way she lived, according to her terms.

I miss her phone calls. She would call me up at home and ask "are you home?" That used to really bug me. I would think up of ways that I could possibly answer that question...although I never dared. She would also call me to run errands for her. I always thought it was such a bother.

But here I am, facing mother's day. If I only knew, what I know now...If I had more days with her...if only she would call and ask if I was at home...if only she would ask me to run errands for her...as bothersome as she may have been, as annoying and bossy as she could be...if only she was here, I could tell her how much I love her and appreciate all the things she did for me...if only...

When I lived in the Philippines. I spent a great deal of summer and Christmas vacations in this tiny island. It is a place inhabited mainly by my mother's family. It is a place where relatives would get together to celebrate. It is a place with big arms to welcome you. It is a place that my mother calls home. After 30 years of living in the US, and a year of traveling back and forth, my mother will make her final journey home.

It was her wish, it was her hope, so, Nanay maayong pagsakay. Ang Dios magauban kanimo.

The Three Wise Men

Yesterday at church, the children heard a short sermon about the three wise men who "went home by another way." Lesson for the children is "finding a way to do things differently." And what better way to start something new than the new year. I am determined to do things differently: to eat healthier meals, to excercise for at least 20 minutes each day, to be mindful, and to make connections and build relationships. You see something happened in 2007 that was a cause for pause, which allowed me to rethink my priorities and all that. But it is still fresh in my heart and mind and for now this is all you need to know.

the beginning

I am entering the world of blog with nothing much to say except this is all you need to know for now.