10 Reasons to Thank God for

(Exported from my old blog in 2008) 

10 Reasons to Thank God for

Dear Lord,
I am eternally grateful for the following reasons:

1.   For having a loving husband. Thank you for being a responsible dad and a supportive partner. I can list down all the good things about you, but ill write those on another entry.

2.   For having my kids. Martha and Sebastian, you kids are so cooooolllliiiittttttttttt!!!. They are a handful but my heart melts every time I see how they have grown. 

3.   For my supermom.  You are the greatest Mom in the whole wide world. You are the most patient person I know. Thank you for everything. Thank you for not giving up on our family and continually doing the best you could to take care of everything. Thank you for the recipes. Thank you for your endless care for your grandkids. Please go here na.

4.   For my sister Kaye and brother LR. Thank you for taking care of Mom and our siblings while I’m away. Thank you for your sacrifices. 

5.   For my Lolo and Lola. My heroes. Heroes of our family. Heroes of their children. Heroes of their grandchildren. Community Heroes. Thank you for the good foundation you have given me. For raising me well. I am a good person because of you. We will be there soon promise! Thank you also to my Ninang Edith and Tita Neri for helping me during my college days.

6.   For newfound friends. Marrickville girls.Thank you for accommodating us. I am eternally thankful for everything you have done for us. May you all immediately have a fun lovelife. Michelle, Thank you for everything. You are our entertainer, counselor, psychologist, psychiatrist,etc. We can never repay your professional fees as your help is priceless. Eileen, Thank you for untiringly listening to all my kwentos ( i know nappagod ka rin, hehe ). We could never have survive our first months here in AU without all your help. We are forever indebted to all of you.
7.   For old friends. College Lybat Superfriends, College Baste Friends i soo miss you all. Infonxx kumares. Noemi, ruchie, kira, ghail, angie etc (dami nyo kc) buong TITANS na lang ni Kokie. Miss you all so much!!! Bingle and Lorie, I miss you both- life is short make the best of it! Ms. Lanie, Mami Grace, Erika and Laiza —-I miss you, thank you for all your support. Lets go to Boracay again! To all of you:  Please always update me to the latest CNN chismis, I crave for that…
8.   For Ms. Mayet, my former GM. You are the most generous person I know. You have inspired me to share selfless care and love even to common people. You have taught me to always aim for perfection. Thank you for believing in my capabilities. Thank you for the opportunity you have given me. Most of all, I really am sorry for the pain I have caused you. I miss you so much, i miss our food galore, our numerous shopping runs to mercury drug (our kind of store!), i miss your shoes, your bags, etc . You really inspire me!
9.   For The Westin Sydney Family. Meagan, thank you for the opportunity you have given me. Thank you for the five star experience. Thank you for the human truths. Ressies, I will miss you guys! you crack me up! Promise, I’ll return if i could get a reliable babysitter
10. For my AIM Front Office Family. My babiessss. You have literally grown! especially shayne, frances and Rk. Marian, I am proud of you. Just continue learning and always remember to do what is right, do not be afraid to ask questions and share suggestions. Jeff take care of Marian. Jha, i couldn’t believe ur a mom already! I’m so happy for you! Boys, please faithfully love your wives, OK? Thank you all for your support. I will be very delighted to see you all grow in your career so please focus and aim for your goals. Always support Ms. Duds also, If you have concerns just tell her, I’m sure she will listen, its just that her hands are full already so continually remind her that you also need her…I will see you all and I’m really hoping I could join you on your next dampa seafood/kuhol pigout!.

***Speech my husband Rommel wrote for his Toastmasters Club here in Australia***

Love or Passion

December 17th, 2008 by beautifulladylaurize

 

What have I got to lose? Love or Passion.

I was staring blankly on the air one ordinary night and wondering if the sleep ahead will give me the nightmarish answer to this question? The cold feel of the floor carpet’s embrace is my luxury as my darling wife lays enjoying the comfort of our bed. You guessed it right, I just got booted off after I tried to crack a joke off a “serious” question she was asking earlier about love or passion.

The days leading to that dreadful night were mostly happy…

I first caught an eye of her beauty at work. I was a young manager and she was an applicant for a vacant role in a non-financial department. I really have no business of talking to her but when I saw her, I silently decided that “this is the woman I’m going to marry” and prayed “Please God make her single”. I called up the friendly HR assistant and arranged that she see me for an “interview” which started with the usual “What are your strengths / weaknesses?”, “what do you know about our company?” stuff then skilfully interjected with “Do you have a boyfriend?”. My heart sank when she replied “yes”. Damn, why do 95% of the women who men wants to marry are engaged!

Anyway, she got the job. On her first day at work, I have displayed my feelings to her. Eventhough I am not her direct superior, I have taken the advantage of showcasing her the whole resort. I did everything to win her heart. She didnt make it easy for me. And because she was already involved with someone, It had been very difficult for her also. But, yeah — maybe we are really meant for each other as few months later — She gave her heart to me.

It was a whirlwind romance. We were always together as we both work at the exclusive resort hotel about 2 hrs from the nearest City. During ordinary days, just thought that lunchtime is almost there and we will soon see each other at the pantry simply brightens up our day. At night, we would talk hours and hours about our plans of family and the future. During weekends, we would hop in a bus and head for the City or go in an unplanned / impulsive trip somewhere away were we both haven’t been to. Those days were one of the happiest times in our lives.

To this day, I am simply amazed how perfect we are for each other. We enjoy the same leisure activity, laugh at the same jokes, shopping… it was like a dream partnership. I could fairly say, we got the same tastes of anything until it gets to my passion…

I grew up a typical boy in the love and care of my parents. While we are a large family I got my father and mothers liking. My father would regularly keep a portion of a forth night’s pay to spare me matchbox or hotwheels die cast toy car. This is how my passion for cars started. I remember how my little hands would wind up the small car’s “engine” and let it drive to a wall or have it jump through chairs or my personal favourite – our dining table while I mimic the engine’s roar. As my teenage youth came, the passion shifted to admiring cars I see off the street. I would literally show off my passion by saying something about a great car I saw to somebody I am walking with that day. My conviction is I should know all cars I see – if there is one I don’t, you will find me a few days later at the local library pouring over books and magazines looking for that particular build, year and model. I was pretty clever on my research methodology before Google.

I finally got the realisation of my passion when I got my 1^st car. It was a Toyota Corolla AE101 which is a younger sibling of Toyota’s iconic AE-86 drift monster. It was dead stock and pristine in form and I really got a good bargain. It got heaps of potential and the country is a haven of cheap aftermarket parts which won’t cost me an arm and leg to dress up my supercar. I have big plans for it and some of them came into reality – a metallic paint, a ground pumping sound system, a blacktop engine which made it ride like a rocket, racing seats, aftermarket exhaust system which made it roar like Godzilla. The list is endless. It seems like each payday, a new project is coined for the car – I was even thinking of fitting it with a gull wing.

That’s when the household’s lady version of Russel Crowe steps in – Master and Commander. We were in bed, embraced and discussing the day that’s ending. When she just remembered I was supposed to buy her a new bag but wasn’t able to coz 
I spent the day with the mechanic for a serious braking issue with the car. What followed is her, enumerating all the things I have poured into the car. It can see the fire of jealousy burning in her eyes… but it think it was just one of those talks we have that usually starts with teasing and ends up with both of us laughing with some petty issue. So when the discussion came to a comparison between my love for her and my passion for my car, with her asking “Who would you choose me or the car?” I sheepishly grinned and joked, “My love, don’t ever put me in a position where I have to choose between you and the car.” That’s when everything went blank… I literally got booted off the bed and taken a fall.

The next days that followed there was total silence in the house… you could hear the constant dripping of the water from the incompletely closed faucet at the kitchen sink… you could hear my muted groans of pain as I nurse a bruised hip at a corner sofa… It took about a week before I got promoted back to the comfort of our bed and my wife’s embrace but not without a price – a couple of bags, a pair of shoes, a new dress and weeks later I lost my beloved Toyota Levin on a deal she helped me brokered.

So, is the passion gone? Allow me to answer that by saying as a family man I now own a Toyota Corolla with heaps of potential…

***Speech my husband Rommel wrote for his Toastmasters Club here in Australia***

For Rommel

Chanced upon from my old blog ---

Thank you for washing the dishes at night, when i am all plastered down or when i just want you to wash the dishes ( u are so cute to watch! ).
Thank you for teaching me the latest technologies although I’m not really into, i realized sometimes it pays to know it.
Thank you for being my photographer and videographer.
Thank you for giving color into my boring self.
Thank you for the music, endless dvd movies, never ending passion for games and passion for anything you can share with me because you hate idle moments.
Thank you for the daily emotional and intellectual conversations we share.
Thank you for the random foot and back massages.
Thank you for being my driver. Promise i will start learning.
Thank you for our toddlers. Thank you for loving them. Thank you for helping me shape them into having intelligent brains and humble hearts.
Thank you for being a loving son to your mom and supporting manoy to your siblings.
Thank you for loving my family the way I love them.
Thank you for agreeing that we should always put the kids in Sunday school.
Thank you for patiently preparing milk for the kids at night and waking up at wee hours   when Martha needs to wiwi.
Thank you for making me feel like I’m the most desirable woman in the world even though I just woke up and I have drool all over my face.
Thank you for never failing to say you love me more than I could ever get tired of hearing every day.
Thank you for always encouraging me to buy the more expensive things i deserve and stopping me on my kuripot syndrome.
Thank you for making me feel safe and secure by holding my hand and holding me in your arms, although u are more duwag than me!
Thank you for still loving me amidst my ugliest and most taray moments.
Thank you for being my bestest friend.
Thank you for being friends with all my friends..
Thank you for understanding me when I am lazy.
Thank you for accepting me as a glutton. Thank you for letting me eat at my preferred restos.
Thank you for telling me the exact right words I need to hear whenever I am feeling sad, worried or uncertain.
Thank you for untiringly listening to my childhood/adolescence stories.
Thank you for making my heart melt with your sweet gestures.
Thank you for your sense of humor. Thank you for your jokes although its really very hard to make me laugh.
Thank you for the warm hugs i very much need specially this winter.
Thank you for our past and future travels and roadtrips.
Thank you for the countless movies we’ve seen (even if 80% sleeping ako).
Thank you for always supporting me in every endeavor i have been.
Thank you for teaching me how to be a toughie.
Thank you for assuring me that everything will be fine every time I worry.
Thank you for being an honest person. I respect your principles and will forever be proud of you.
Thank you for being there always.
Thank you for our journey.
Thank you for being you.
I love you.