Blood Sugar

(dahil laging may kulang sa abroad) (because something is always missing abroad) I still have 30 minutes before I go back to my pad. I don’t want to overlook this chance. I will write. I will allow my soul to breathe for awhile. I have been in the desert for 2 years now. The sands are motes which have gotten into my eyes. I’ve lost good vision and my focus. The things that happened to me are as many as the grains of sand in the desert. They are just too many and sometimes too much to handle. Let me look back two years ago. What were there? In my plans; in my dreams… I left my homeland with copious dreams to improve my life and the lives of my loved ones. I came into this land in short of everything but my love and dreams for my family. I thought those were enough.. I anticipated the hardships but failed to foresee all its consequences. I said I will endure but never said that my heart is unbreakable. I claimed that I will be brave but not that I will not shed tears. I ...

Behind every man’s success is a woman… before that same man is also that same woman who shields the man from imminent adversaries. That man is the child and that woman is the mother who steps in advance to guard against the looming danger and then sits down behind him to become one of the audiences to applaud. The woman; the mother. The man; the child. I want to be the husband and father that my wife and children will be proud of. I want to be the best husband to my wife-to-be and; be the best dad to my children-to-be. It's a tough goal but I gear to be the perfect contrast of my father. When I was very young I described a family as comprised by lola, tito, tita, pinsan, ate and nanay. But when I began to attend to school and as I memorized to sing and recite nursery rhymes about family I discovered a slight difference from what I used to believe about. I was confused. But I did not mind. "Who is your father?"-- I finished my grade one as first in the honor l...

I’ve kept on wondering what else my mother cannot do. I have asked this because I was raised by she whom I perceive to be the most powerful among all of God’s creatures. I should add: when I was very young I never admired superman, the president, my teacher, ‘wok with Yan’, ms. universe, the pope, etc. in their respective aspects as much as I admired her. She is a human par excellence.  Yet slowly I noticed that even a super-human grows old and gets sick & weak. I had denied these to myself. But with obvious changes like her hair fading to gray & white, her age 61 this year, her health no longer as good as before and her memory slightly fading, I should accept that she, too, has limitations. But where did my mom’s superpowers go?  Flashback-- we did not have our TV until I was 12. But our mom managed to buy a radio which was enough to muster the three of us together especially in the evening listening to Beinte Quatro Oras, Si Mata, Gabi ng Lagim, Tiya Dely...