Daily, she tries to gather what she can from the fields. The sun is high, her muscles sore, her back aches, her children wait for the rice to cook in their small home. This is her every day, and during these times, she plants more seeds too, because she believes in cultivation and harvesting for those who will follow her and will walk their land. Not only does she care and feed the crops they grow to her own children, she also feeds many more people when the seeds she has planted have grown in years. Even in her passing, the hungry will be filled.

In memory of Wavey, a small plant my Mom gave to me a few months ago. She thrived in the province. Somehow, up to this day, I still keep Wavey's soil damp; in death, there is still love.

They were three friends whose bond was deepened over time for their fondness for taking care of animals. In the girl's home, a dove with a broken wing laid down, unmoving, on a patch of dried leaves. That was the first time they all came together to help a little bird. They loved their friendship - it inspired one another to help. They had a shared dream too, so it was easy to keep grounded on their values. The dove, after weeks of healing under their care, eventually flew off. If doves could smile, the little dove was smiling when it left. Suddenly, a life was turned around for the better, even if it was a life deemed small by others. || Inspired by the time my Mom took care of Cuckoo, a dove who had a broken wing, back when she was younger. 

I agree with something that Pope Francis said when he was in the US - how we cannot leave the problem of climate change to a future generation. Every good we could have done today but we did not continue to do is another day into the future that could have been the only turning point. Before Pope Francis pointed it out, I could not see the big picture yet, of how all nations and peoples live in one place, our 'common place' and how one event in a place affects somebody else, affects animals, affects nature. Catastrophes like earthquakes, floods, and storms ravage lives and homes. After we hear the intensity or the number of people who died, we too must dwell on the fact that they are people who too had wanted to change the world for the better, who too had families and dreams, that they are not just numbers or statistics. What we do today is consequential to the children who will soon grow up. The thought that another generation will be the ones we can pass our problems to today leaves us complacent and unmoving. I hope we do not pass on pain, indifference, nor hurt but a helping hand, a solution, a lamp that they can continue pouring oil into. Let us give a lamp already burning, instead of having them gather oil and build the lamp first.

A friend's friend said he wanted to be a zoologist, and it is truly inspiring to hear something like this. With the study of animals comes their welfare as well. We must push this forward and the conservation of our environment and their homes. We have been entrusted with this big responsibility, so in our own way, we must strive to live with the mindset that we are responsible for all living things, for each other.

They stood by the shallow end. Looking at them, I found peace. 

Though the sky was vast, the tips of their wings brushed against each other. They circled and circled, a flutter of feathers. Up to now, they remember the exact shade of blue where they first flew together.

Home
Home is one of my favorite words. || Inspired by the design of the house in the Studio Ghibli movie The Borrower Arrietty

Something that I miss from the province - fresh air. Having asthma ever since I was a child, the air in busy cities like Manila and Makati can limit my breathing compared to the liberating air in our province. Smoke from vehicles and inhaling cigarette smoke from passersby are some that keep my handkerchief glued to my nose and mouth. This makes jogging at night a heavy thing to endure as well, since you gasp for air and the only air available isn't as refreshing as you would like it to be. There is still a way, however, that we get to involve ourselves in reducing our carbon footprints like walking or biking to work if our office is near our home, saving water, reusing and recycling, and replacing incandescent light bulbs with LED. Also, let's plant more trees for our oxygen-giving buddies help us live better and cleaner. They give us shade as well and add beauty and greens more to a world that has taken a heavier liking on gray, walls, and concrete.

On our way back to the city earlier, I spotted few lone birds flying high in the sky. One was around SCTEX; one was around NLEX. Seeing them soar against the sky brought me peace. As the Beatles song goes, 'Take these broken wings and learn to fly.' Though with something broken or flawed in you, you learn to grow in your limitations, thus I need to learn to be thankful for my own limitations and flaws. This is how Christ helps us.

This little otter still hasn't found the one he is to hold hands with for the rest of his life. 

A man sat by the bay and breathed in all the good air the plants had to offer and breathed out all the exhaustion he felt for the day. He pictured in his mind the bridge he once biked at with his father and the grassy fields where his mother loved to pick flowers from as a child. He loved his mother and father dearly; now that he was older, he missed them more compared to the time he first let go of his parents' hands on his first day of kindergarten.

Inspired by that time when my Mom, Tito Pads, and I stopped over in Casa de Fruta, en route to San Francisco. It was a sunny afternoon, and there were peacocks freely walking around the area - something you don't really get to see on a normal basis in the Philippines. One little fellow actually came close to Tito Pads' van. It was a pleasant thing to witness. 

Paghirapan mo - an important lesson. I do not wish to accomplish things by just breezing through them with no effort at all. I don't want a project that I can just sit comfortably and finish tasks with no challenge or pressure. I don't want to be in joy when what it took for me to live in it was a straight and easy path. It is only now I realize the value of working hard for something or for the people you love. I want to be the plant who finds a way to grow through the gaps in the concrete. Through struggles, we grow. As St. Therese of Lisieux said, to which I push my heart to agree with, "...I shall sing, sing without ceasing even if I have to gather my roses from the midst of thorns. The longer and sharper the thorns, the sweeter my song will be."

I remember the times we covered basketball games before and hoped that our school would finally bag the title again after several years. They thought that it would be an honor and a delight to be the one to write that headline article. A delight because think of all the dynamic wordplay and witty phrases you can come up with! Sports is such a humbling field, fostering endurance, teamwork, and redemption from all the missed shots and close calls. You learn a lot from engaging in any kind of sport. When my friend Ms Abi was jogging ahead of me and my feet and legs couldn't fight gravity much stronger anymore, i continued to jog at my own pace, eventually carrying my body closer to its limit. You wouldn't know what you're capable of until you've reached your limit, and perhaps you will only know your limit when you've gone beyond it. I appreciate the values you learn in sports, which is probably why i enjoy a few sports-related films. There's the tale of the underdog hearing the praise of the crowd. Go, Mapúa Cardinals.

Light Touches
The river looks different when the afternoon light hits it. Buildings look different when the afternoon light hits them. I came to the thought: there is nothing in this world that light cannot touch and make even more beautiful. You are not a black hole - once light comes into you, it stays there, and it will stay there so long as you make it brigther or reflect it towards another.