Just a few hours ago, I ended a day that turned out to be one of the most beautiful days of my life.  At about 1am, my mom called me up and greeted me with a wonderful happy birthday.  I was so happy!   The very person who brought me into this world was the first person to remember my birthday!    Later in the morning, I was woken by a series of missed calls and text messages from my friends, and my bestfriend, who remembered me this day, and honestly, it felt really good.  I wasn’t expecting them to remember, since we have not seen each other for quite sometime.  

I spent the afternoon waiting in line at the Land Transportation Office at East Avenue with my daughter, to renew my driver’s license, as it would be expiring today.   I had to take a drug test and a medical exam before filing my application for renewal.  (Read about the procedures and costs of a Non-professional driver’s license renewal here).  After receiving my renewed license, we went off to pay our bills and to purchase a powerstrip that my Mr. Workaholic asked me to get for the computer.  By 5:30PM,  I was home, and really tired.  We were having dinner out, and I realized that I didn’t have that much time to fix myself up for this special date with my family.  But inspite of that, my evening was wonderful. 

We had dinner at the Panciteria San Jacinto  at Libis and the kids were excited.  Year after year, I have celebrated my birthdays with both friends and family altogether.  This birthday was special.  It was just me, my Mr.W, and my children.. the most important people in my life.  Food was great, and the service was good.  After dinner, Mr. W approached one of the waiters to ask for a cake to be ordered from Mom and Tina’s Bakery Cafe right next to the San Jacinto’s.  The waiter quickly called for a waiter from Mom and Tina’s who, in turn, came quickly with their own menu.  I was simply awed!  I chose a nice little chocolate cake, just to satisfy Mr. W’s insistence that had a cake, and, that I blew a candle on my birthday.    The cake was delivered, and they sang me a happy birthday song (softly, I asked them, so as not too attract too much attention from all the other customers of San Jacinto), and I blew the candle… take note… JUST ONE CANDLE… I’m not announcing my age here ok.. haha! 

It was just dinner, and just a few hours.  But I can’t seem to describe how I felt every moment of that experience. We shared, laughed and enjoyed each other all throughout the evening.  We were so bonded, so close, and it simply felt so beautiful.  I thank the Lord for moments like these.  I thank Him for giving me another year to live and share my life with this wonderful family.  I’m so in love with my babies… all of them are my babies.  They’re all I really have, and they’re all I ever want and need… and they truly, truly make me soooo happy! 

These are the photos we took last night on this memorable family dinner date we had at the San Jacinto.

Loading...

 cherishing moments like these..

Psalm 23:1-6

 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 
 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 
 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 
 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 
 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Some days can’t turn out so well at all.  Every now and then, unexpected things occur, that sometimes ruin your entire day.  There are times you wish you could just rewind the whole day just to make things right the next time around.  But of course, that’s simply impossible.  You just have to let it all go, and think about having a better day tomorrow. 

After a not-so-awesome day today, I opened my email box and to find this interesting email from a dear friend of ours, which, well, at least lightened up the last few minutes of an almost frustrating day that was about to end.  Allow me to share this to all, with hopes that it would help lighten up those days you wish you could just change in a snap of a finger…. 

CHOOSE HOW YOU START YOUR DAY TOMORROW

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.   When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘ If I were any better, I would be twins!’

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, ‘I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the
time.
How do you do it?’ Michael replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Mike, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. ‘Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested. ‘Yes, it is, Michael said.

‘Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.’

I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied: ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?’ I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. ‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be-born daughter, Michael replied ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live.’

‘Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked. Michael continued: ‘…The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the
expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘he’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.’
‘What did you do?’ I asked.
‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said Michael.
‘She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes’, I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity.’ Over their laughter, I told them,
‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.

I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully………Attitude, after all, is everything.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.