Hubby and I really enjoyed our recent vacation. The fact that we got hit by a Nor'easter (a New England term for Blizzard) the moment we got back to Boston made us regret coming home even more. Over two feet of snow were dumped on us. It's like Mother Nature rubbing in reality and saying, "Welcome home, kiddos!" Looking out from your window after a blizzard is quite an experience as every single thing is covered in this nice, white, fluffy snow. It makes you want to go out and make snowangels and snowmen. Having to dig your way out afterwards, however, is not a pleasant experience. All this typical northeastern weather made us revisit our fresh San Francisco memories again and again.
Each time I go to San Francisco, it just affirms my predilection for it over any other city in the United States. We had a great time in the city and seeing the sites around it, as well. We did the usual, Union Square, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square. We had a nightcap at buzzling University Avenue in Palo Alto, dinner and coffee in Cupertino (Apple's headquarters) in South Bay, and walked through the streets on the coast of Sausalito. We went to Monterey to see its breathtaking shoreline along the 17-Mile Drive, all the way to Carmel-by-the-Sea. The seascape was made all the more captivating as it was lined with different rock formations and countless Cypress Trees. We even spotted a whale frolicking in the distant waters, spouting water high into the air from its blowhole. It's the kind of sight that makes you glad to be alive.
We also made sure we visited Muir Woods, a national monument where you can find California Redwoods and Sequoias. We wandered inside the forest preserve in awe as we saw huge redwoods that were as wide as we were tall. Some trees were so huge that you can camp in a hollow part of its trunk. There was a cluster of trees where they commemorated the creation of the United Nations, and even ones that dated back to the American Revolution. Just thinking about that made us feel so finite. These trees have been there hundreds of years before we were born, and will remain there long after we die. They have witnessed events that we only read about in books. They have gone through the changes this world constantly brings upon its inhabitants. I imagined the different generations of people that have walked under its branches, whether to camp, to forage and hunt, or to pass through on their way to some distant destination. And here we were in the new year of 2005, walking the same paths those people of old walked. What an indescribable feeling that is. Even nicer that I have the company of Hubby who shares the same appreciation for such things. I love traveling with him.
Uh-oh, the weather forecast predicts another snowstorm. Back to my cold reality!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Thursday, January 20, 2005
My Very First Friend
Hubby and I arrived via the red-eye this morning from our little trek to San Francisco. We had been invited to a wedding and decided that we might was well turn it into a mini-vacation while we were there.
The wedding was that of my very first friend. We were playmates from when we were about two or three years old, as our families had moved to the same neighborhood at around the same time. We were inseparable! Our families were close as well and we went on vacations together a couple of times. We spent a lot of after-school hours and summers together playing indoor and outdoor games (patintero, taguan (hide-n-seek), chato, agawan-base), yakking, role-playing, doing things that ranged from the silly to the gross. Then when we were ten, our friendship, as we knew it, ended abruptly when her family moved away from the Philippines for good. Both of us were left in the dark about the move until after the fact. It left a deep disappointment in both our hearts that we never got to properly say goodbye. We remained quite close through letters until we were about fourteen. By then, I imagine that teenage life took over and left us both with no time to write. We lost touch. I had often wondered about her through the years but I had lost her address and I had moved. When the internet era dawned, I tried to search for her periodically but it never turned up anything solid. Around November 2003, it hit me that I should be looking her father up instead of her as there was no way that he would change his name. Besides, I thought that he was probably the sort of person who would be listed in the phone book. So I hit the anywho.com website and voila, there was the number. I made that phone call and it started a chain reaction that led me to my long lost friend. We practically picked up from where we left off and started talking almost every day online. We caught up on how our lives went from when we last saw each other, to sharing everything that was taking place in the present, including her engagement five months later, to the planning of the details of her wedding and honeymoon. It culminated in our physical reunion last Saturday, a little over a year after we started talking and twenty-five years after we last saw each other. My first sight was of her walking down the aisle with her dad, in all her bridal glory. Her face is as pretty as I remembered but gone was the little, scrawny body I knew. She filled her gorgeous gown beautifully and was every bit the picture of a radiant bride. Our tearful reunion came later on when she was done with all the formalities of the wedding ceremony, and we were in the less structured atmosphere of the wedding reception. Her hubby and mine hit it off as well, although they had heard of each other before, as my friend and I constantly exchanged stories and photos in the year that we were doing catch up. The wedding was beautiful and we had the greatest time. It was made even more memorable because of our special circumstances. We even got the chance to squeeze in a dinner with them before they hied off to their honeymoon in the Philippines and Japan.
To Vic and Dan, the very best wishes from M and I for an incredible honeymoon and a long life together of unending blessings.
More later on the rest of the vacation...stay tuned!
The wedding was that of my very first friend. We were playmates from when we were about two or three years old, as our families had moved to the same neighborhood at around the same time. We were inseparable! Our families were close as well and we went on vacations together a couple of times. We spent a lot of after-school hours and summers together playing indoor and outdoor games (patintero, taguan (hide-n-seek), chato, agawan-base), yakking, role-playing, doing things that ranged from the silly to the gross. Then when we were ten, our friendship, as we knew it, ended abruptly when her family moved away from the Philippines for good. Both of us were left in the dark about the move until after the fact. It left a deep disappointment in both our hearts that we never got to properly say goodbye. We remained quite close through letters until we were about fourteen. By then, I imagine that teenage life took over and left us both with no time to write. We lost touch. I had often wondered about her through the years but I had lost her address and I had moved. When the internet era dawned, I tried to search for her periodically but it never turned up anything solid. Around November 2003, it hit me that I should be looking her father up instead of her as there was no way that he would change his name. Besides, I thought that he was probably the sort of person who would be listed in the phone book. So I hit the anywho.com website and voila, there was the number. I made that phone call and it started a chain reaction that led me to my long lost friend. We practically picked up from where we left off and started talking almost every day online. We caught up on how our lives went from when we last saw each other, to sharing everything that was taking place in the present, including her engagement five months later, to the planning of the details of her wedding and honeymoon. It culminated in our physical reunion last Saturday, a little over a year after we started talking and twenty-five years after we last saw each other. My first sight was of her walking down the aisle with her dad, in all her bridal glory. Her face is as pretty as I remembered but gone was the little, scrawny body I knew. She filled her gorgeous gown beautifully and was every bit the picture of a radiant bride. Our tearful reunion came later on when she was done with all the formalities of the wedding ceremony, and we were in the less structured atmosphere of the wedding reception. Her hubby and mine hit it off as well, although they had heard of each other before, as my friend and I constantly exchanged stories and photos in the year that we were doing catch up. The wedding was beautiful and we had the greatest time. It was made even more memorable because of our special circumstances. We even got the chance to squeeze in a dinner with them before they hied off to their honeymoon in the Philippines and Japan.
To Vic and Dan, the very best wishes from M and I for an incredible honeymoon and a long life together of unending blessings.
More later on the rest of the vacation...stay tuned!
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Attitude
Two years ago, I worked for a foremost and well-respected design company. It was part of my job to write, compile and send out a summary of our notable projects to international clients. In my research, I came across a project that one of our teams undertook for 2002. It was the design of the memorial for the headquarters of TJX (TJ Maxx) in memory of their seven employees that perished in the 9/11 attacks. The husband of one employee came upon a book that she was reading before her death. It was a book by Charles Swindoll, and his wife had bookmarked a particular page which contained a passage that she loved. It left such a deep impression on him that he decided to have it inscribed in her memorial. This is what it says:
ATTITUDE
by Charles Swindoll
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.
I have read some books by Charles Swindoll and found his writings to be extremely inspiring. I never came across this particular piece of writing until then. The beauty and the truth of it struck me so hard that I transcribed it, and shared it to everyone I knew via email. It is something I try to remember every single day from the very first day I read it.
Now that 2005 is upon us, I reflect on it once again, praying that no matter what the year brings to me and my family, that we will continue to let these words, and the strength of our faith, translate freely into our lives.
ATTITUDE
by Charles Swindoll
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.
I have read some books by Charles Swindoll and found his writings to be extremely inspiring. I never came across this particular piece of writing until then. The beauty and the truth of it struck me so hard that I transcribed it, and shared it to everyone I knew via email. It is something I try to remember every single day from the very first day I read it.
Now that 2005 is upon us, I reflect on it once again, praying that no matter what the year brings to me and my family, that we will continue to let these words, and the strength of our faith, translate freely into our lives.
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