Part I: Try St. Jude

Ang Nakaraan:
I lost an earring the other day.  I also got lost on the same day that an earring fell unbeknownst, from my ear, as I was making my rounds on the roads romantically named after locally known flowers.  

I remember childhood tales of "tikbalangs" playing tricks on passers-by where they incredibly lose their way on familiar territories and find themselves in twilight zones (music is supposed to be played here: ni-ni-ni-ningggg  ni-ni-ni-ninggg).  If you are a Filipino, you must have heard of this (not the music but the tale).  Enough said, I walked to retrace my steps this morning.  On the pretense that I would like to try to find my earring, I brought Mr. S along.  With an extra pair of eyes, I hoped to give justice to my lost article by looking for it, the least I could do in a hopeless situation.  Also, maybe for closure.  But the mission was also to discover how I got lost (or so it seemed in a quicksilver second).

No trace.  Not even a bit of what people experience when they think they have found an oasis in the middle of a wasteland, a mirage in the climax of life-threatening thirst.  But still, I prayed or hoped or wished. St. Jude just popped up in my mind very quickly.  The patron saint of everything impossible. Is that right?  I said a little prayer before I got distracted by the thought of an appointment in a few hours and at the same time trying to figure how I got lost that same day.

                                                                   Itutuloy

Lost and not Found

I don't lose things.  They lose themselves.

I have lost only 2 pieces of earrings in my entire life. They manage to untangle themselves from my earlobes and drop themselves off to the ground where they will not, most likely to be found! Adventurous pieces, huh? Yes, this morning, as I walked my rounds in the secluded roads of flowers along 7th avenue- Azucena...... Begonia............ Hyacinth............... Rosas............... Magnolia......... Sunflower..............

I am now in possession of two unmatched earrings, very much like two widows whose partners decided to go.

Here's my requiem to the lost earrings:
Dust unto dust... minerals unto minerals.... crystals unto crystals... they belonged to the earth before and are now back from where they were mined. 

I rest my case. 

HEDCen: Morning Assembly

Today in school, I had a big, tattered box brought to the assembly for everyone to see.

2 gray school uniforms with molds growing on chocolate stains
a backpack with a week-old lunch inside
water bottles still with fingerprints on them
a shoebox with trinkets or left-overs of some school project
a cloth bag with soccer shoes
bags
more bags
jogging pants
PE uniforms
spoons and forks
dirty socks
folders
notebooks...

and brains left and completely forgotten for days  by the absent-minded owners...

All of these items LOST and UNCLAIMED.


Aaaahh! School!

PInked

Just what my mom would say, slightly pink like the cheeks of a blushing, young girl.  That tinge of pink when she tries to catch her breath after swooning over some young lass who gives her, just a bit of glance!

That kind of pink when the heart sees something that makes it beat irregularly and queerly.  Pink that is hardly there but there!

That kind of pink that does not brag nor is imposing to the senses.  Almost pink in the manner of one whose ways are impeccably just right and natural,  like the veins on a petal of baby lips while the senses have not yet awaken.

Those toes that are pink as I imagine Ziva Estelle's.

A faceted pink that is almost hardly there, faintly and subtly like the sky on some rare days, like the ones I witnessed in Bantayan Island.

Maria would always say to me, wear pink.  It suits you.  It is healthy.  And so will I, without being noticed.

 

Poetry without words

early morning where the ants live

 

Gloria finds her smile

So Gloria started to smile again.  That happened after the jump.  Here's a beautiful lunch she offered in return. 

 Isn't it fantastic?

Cheers!!

Gloria's BIG jUmP!

i noticed she's been wan lately.  i guess everyone who has seen her will agree with me.  Gloria's disposition  has shrunk from ebullience to dry.  

I tried to revive her joie d vivre but she seemed weighed down, her head aches she says.  I guess there are other reasons: her husband who for goodness sakes, is INSANEly short of wits but always trying to outsmart the smart with full confidence!

Food did not interest her much nor changed the way she felt. No amount of drugs or loving could bring back the glow in her face.

I wanted her glory back so badly so I staged my last recourse!

 MAKE HER FLY!!    V v ... ....  v
                                                                                                 v
               v                   v                   <         v
        v                                                                                                                v                  >
V                .>

G-l-ooooooooooooooooo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-yaaa-a-a-a-a--a-a-a-a--a-a-a-a-a-aahhhhhhhh

FIRST ATTEMPT:  She could not even lift her feet from the ground to make a tiny jump :(

 SECOND ATTEMPT:  Gloria lifting her heels and landing on the ground as if she really and seriously jumped!!!

Ay! ang taba ko! kasi naman ang payat ni Glory!

 Then I showed her how. 

 I caught her smile after that.  Great!  She is now on reset!

 There you go Gloria!!!!!  Bravo!!! Mission accomplished! back to normal.  Sanito, the love and thorn of Gloria's existence will be jealous!

This technique is what I call:  jUmP for JOY!!  I did this once when my youngest son decided to study and work in Australia.  I jumped from a 20ft bridge in Cagayan.  Short of taking a suicide and leaving my fears behind.  

I'm still alive...

Gewgaws and tchotchkes?

The sacred in christmas is remembering all good things...

 and being remembered too.  this is a gift delivered from Guam from a friend called Alice.

 a mitten from a tent in Bethlehem was a gift from Glenda, a teacher of 13 years in The Little Farmhouse.  She is joining her husband in their church's mission this coming schoolyear.  I have this trimming to always remember her by.

 a twig I incorporated in my tree for a bit of emphasis.  After all, this tree could have been more natural than inorganically fake.

 there is sadness whenever I hang this.  this beautiful reindeer was a gift from one of my special students and a very special boy.  I pray that he is happy and well.  how I wish that I was able to keep him, but then there are things beyond me.

 A beautiful wooden angel.  I found this under a heap of trinkets being sold for a few pesos, dusty and drab.  Look at how she glows in my tree!

 This must have cost Ana some pounds!  A remembrance of her honeymoon in Europe.

 My first crystal decor!  I bought this glass reindeer from Fisherman's Wharf in SanFo.  Happy and sad memories...

 A clown to make me remember the hard times of putting up a school. lucky to have found this!  it is a treasure and what a bargain!!!

 Roxy reminds me of Jasmin very much.  Two christmases ago, she sensed it when I was starting to feel very weird and very sick and could hardly make the tree.

 Love these crystal balls from London.  The newest addition to my family tree!

Old and worn-out when I found this old guy.  This was a post, post Christmas sale from Papemelroti.

Let me tell you this little story about a young wife looking for a christmas tree decorator.  She wanted to have a tree "in season" or in vogue.  She asked about the color of the year and while I was admiring the store's display, she asked me if I have a tree and a decorator.

I told her that my Christmas tree is as authentic as my life, and for as long as family and friends gather around it, then it transcends everything material.