me and the decades

As 2010 slowly slips away, let me indulge you with my journey back in time and tell you where I have been in the last decades…

The 80’s

My first year in school. Well, preschool that is. It was also my first time  to live away from my parents and siblings because I have to stay with the old folks.  I was never given a choice and my siblings were still young and annoying and the thought of being an only child at Lola’s house was enticing.

The 80’s taught me one of the most valuable lessons in life: independence. Making it on my own and figuring out my way through the maze. I’ve also learned that perseverance will take me anywhere I want to be. And had known early on that dancing, singing or anything that requires me to perform in front of an audience was not my kind of thing but I can write a mean essay though. I was not the brightest kid in school but I brought my own sunshine.

The second part of my 80’s was learning how to live in the city (I was transferred to Manila) and getting along with my urbanized classmates. I have realized that a probinsiyana like me can carve her own niche in the city of "sophisticated" kids. I parted with the 80’s in LB studying in a private sectarian school where Wednesday novenas and First Friday masses were part of the curriculum.

The 1990’s

My love affair with webbing words started in 1990. While most of my classmates are busy reading love letters, I was busy reading poetry books, novels and everything I can get my hands on. While most of my classmates giggled at the sight of scented papers and freshly written love notes, I was busy proofreading the ones I received, sometimes peppered with red ink (nope, not hearts, circles of how many wrong grammars and spellings) as a way of teaching myself the basics of formative writing.

1990 has also exposed me to music where the lyrics were actually self expression. I gushed and sighed to the sounds of home grown bands – Eraserheads to top my list.

Further into the 90’s I got admitted in a school where kids wearing shorts and slippers and the latest Esprit, Guess, Benetton, Tretorn & Vans were treated equally. Yes, I became an ISKA. The first year I pursued my passion for writing and enrolled in Comm Arts but a year after, I realized that nobody was taking me seriously so I took the hardcore (and it was really hard) via Zoology. See, there’s a difference between Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. But that is another topic.

And in a true Iska fashion, I have kept this poem inside my heart and mind:

 “I think I Shall Never See a Grade as lovely as a Three. A Three that’s earned with sweat and blood…”

Finally, I breezed through college and joined the workforce. I have learned to use my "abilidad" rather than what I actually learned from college to get me through my career. (Hello, I can’t use Zoology in Fast Food Management).

Tragedy struck our family that forever changed our lives. But my job and my determination has kept my family afloat. I ended this decade by surprisingly, getting married.

2000’s

After enjoying being single for a time, the wedding bells rung for me and I pursued the man I promised to myself (since Grade 4) that I will marry. Settling into married life was easy, after all we both have each of our lives to live or so I thought.

Years moved on & we were blessed with two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. I had my career in full gear, hopping from one company to another and living in different cities where work were. We became a real family, real husband and wife dealing with the demands of family life and how to raise kids.

It was a topsy turvy life and still is, but our love for each other is big enough for the four us to have faith in life and love…

Three decades after and here I am still pursuing my lifelong passion for writing, still a warrior in this mad world, still the hopeless romantic who is forever in love with her first love and still trying to be the best sister, daughter, niece, cousin,  friend, wife and mom that I can ever be.

This may not be my half way through life (I plan to live longer), but writing about the past decades gave me a sense of fulfillment. There are still many decades to go but my faith in myself, in my family and my love for life will see me through.