Birthday Blessings

“He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God his savior.” – Psalm 24:5

The table at the far end beckoned me to sit and peruse the letters tucked beneath its glass top. The low armchair cuddled me in its comfortable embrace. This spot seemed to have been reserved especially for me.

Café Mary Grace ATC with its rustic ambiance was the perfect place for my solo birthday lunch. I ordered Caesar Salad, Wild Raspberry iced tea and Mango Bene for dessert. The selection matched my persona – a trying hard health buff with a sweet tooth.

This was my birthday blessing from the Lord. A crack in time in the frenetic hours spent on community service. It’s Kerygma Conference time and I was in the thick of preparations for our stream aside from my usual Saturday Feast Alabang and Media Ministry duties.

I actually had to force myself to eat leisurely. No need for the customary rush. I had an hour before The Spa opened. There’s time enough to savor the food and go window shopping. 

As I licked the cream off my fork, I thanked the Lord for my solo celebration. It was not lonely as one may think. It was actually my choice and already Day 3 of my birthday bash. The past two days were spent with people I love and who cared for me. 

On Day 1, I was kidnapped by my FAMMily (Feast Alabang Media Ministy) for a surprise celebration. It was a simple pizza, Krispy Kreme chillers and cake affair highlighted by laughter and singing. It was so much fun that we only left the place because the guard was threatening to turn off the lights.

On Day 2, my family and I gorged (and I say that literally) on Japanese-Korean food in the newly opened Sambo Kojin in Southmall. We had to gingerly walk out of the restaurant afraid that any sudden move will dislodge the strategic position the sushi, the yakiniku, the tempura and their gang mates have taken in our overstuffed bellies.

So on Day 3, which was my actual birthday, I planned for a “Me day”. I heard mass with my parents (a concession because I wanted to thank the Lord for the life they gave me) and then headed for the gym to Zumba away the extra calories from the night before.

And then there I was just hanging out with myself at lunch time, looking forward to the indulgence and pampering I would soon experience – a dip in the Jacuzzi and a 90-minute massage at The Spa which was my son’s gift.  There’s also the Tous Le Jours birthday cake I had wished for and unexpectedly got. Candle blowing at dinner time. 

I’d like to think that these birthday blessings are God’s rewards for my service. Thank you, Lord.

My Little Big Artifact

Like ants in a sugar bowl, Proudly Filipina members swarmed around the registration table at the posh entrance of The Spa at the Fort. They each grabbed a token and tied it around their wrists. The less staid Ka-Pinays tied it around their ankles. Each component of the bracelet/anklet was a symbol of our race – a nacre sampaguita, pearls, coconut shell and carabao horn beads. All the lady guests wanted one including celebrity host Christine Bersola-Babao. I felt a pinch of pride. The trinket was something I spent several cross-eyed-from-lack-of-sleep nights crafting for our launch Spa-rty.

That was two years and many articles ago. I brought the bracelet to the writer’s workshop, “Write Now,” that I attended on Jan. 15, 2011, Rissa Singson-Kawpeng, our writing coach, asked us to bring an artifact. It was a tool we can use to introduce ourselves. Also a mental post-it to make the memory about the participants stick.

My artifact chronicles a short story. It tells how I like to make things with my hands – fashion accessories for one. It is also a memento of the first time I had the audacity to write for public consumption through the online magazine of Proudly Filipina.com. Inserted in its pages are the interesting and accomplished Filipinas I met, interviewed and wrote about.

This trinket also linked each chapter in my new profession. My two gifts that the bracelet represented – crafting and writing – were keys that opened the double-locked door to the world of writing for Insight Magazine and Didache. (I have blogged about how long I’ve wanted to write for Didache and how I met Rissa through my accessories.)

Because I wrote a reflection for Didache about an old blog, I was pushed (forced by embarrassment actually) to resurrect it before the reflection was due to come out. Didache readers might look for the blog and find articles as old and outmoded as last season’s fashion bling. I wanted them to read something new and sparkling.

From this blog, another link was created. An article I submitted to Bo Sanchez’s Facebook page was chosen Blog of the Week. It also caught the eye of Kerygma Magazine’s managing editor, Tess Atienza. At that time, she needed a testimony for their January issue. My story was exactly what she was looking for. A new chapter began when Tess asked me to be a contributing writer for Kerygma – another dream inscribed in my heart for many years.

These are the links so far in my story bracelet. Links that show big opportunities can come from little things. You never know where a blessing will start. It can begin from something as trivial as my trinket.

Creative House's Rissa Singson-Kawpeng, Arun & Lallaine Gogna (third to fifth from the left) with "Write Now" participants from Feast Alabang Osy Erica, Lella Santiago, Desi Tomas & Jo Ann Fauni

Thanks to Osy for this photo.

Blissful Birthday

For two years I had been planning a “spa-mper me” birthday – a relaxing time of pampering at the spa. A whole day spent in quiet solitude getting beauty treatments I normally don’t have the time or the budget for. I dreamed of going to the Fitness First Spa as it looked so luxuriously inviting every time I passed by to go to the gym.

But for two years, something always came up to derail my plans. In 2008, I mapped out my day: mass, gym, lunch with my singles Caring Group (CG), the rest of the day at the spa (it was a school day so our family dinner had to wait for the weekend). I got as far as the lunch. Then I was called for an urgent business meeting to plan the launch of our website, Proudly Filipina.com. No time to have even a single nail polished.

2009 rolled in and I planned again: gym, merienda with singles CG, spa, mass (solo – I was trying to wean my parents away from the idea that I still needed adult supervision), semi-surprise dinner party hosted by the Feast Council and other community friends. Still a school day – calendared family celebration for the weekend.

Everything went according to plan except for the spa. The day was too packed with activities. I had very little time for pampering myself. Aside from that, I made the wrong decision to look for a spa in ritzy Alabang Town Center. The price range was horrific. I just had my nails done. I did get my spa though sometime during the month. Naty gave me a gift certificate for The Spa. But it wasn’t my birthday anymore when I finally got my massage.

This year, I gave up on the planning. I still hoped to spend the day at the spa but I left everything in God’s hands. My day was clear but you never know. We already had a joint celebration (for Rollie and me) with my mother CG last Wednesday. That’s one item down. I started the day preparing breakfast and my working son’s packed lunch. Then mass with my still-not-weaned parents. Spent time on the phone with a dear friend in need of a friendly ear. Worked on the Feast Alabang bulletin layout. I had an early lunch so I can free the whole afternoon.

And there they were – several hours gloriously free – lines in my planner just aching for the word “spa” to be written on them. I escaped to the new SM Center right outside our village. First, I went to the parlor to get my hair colored. Then with shiny, blow dried hair that swung with my every step I sashayed over to the spa for that much longed-for facial and massage. It was bliss!

As if it was planned, my “spa-mpering” session ended right on time for our family dinner. We had a pleasant, relaxed time getting acquainted with Mediterranean cuisine. More bliss, especially when my sons surprised me with a gift I had been wanting for quite a while – a purple yoga mat.

Like clockwork, dinner was over in time for me to make it to my last appointment, our community mass for Naty’s dearly departed brother. I got there right when they were serving dinner. Naty loves to cook and she prepared quite a spread. Everyone had a laugh when I invited them to partake of the food like I was hosting a birthday party. Although it was a sad occasion, joy filled me because I was surrounded by my community, by people who love and support each other in good times and in bad.

It didn’t end there though. There were more treats. The next day, I spent the afternoon with graduate school friends. At our Media Ministry meeting that spilled over to Music Ministry practice that evening, I was surrounded with more loving co-servants. My Media Ministry members even prepared an audio-visual presentation for me.

Oh, did I tell you that I got a call this morning from the Fitness First Spa? They’re giving me a certificate for a free massage in honor of my birthday.

After two years I finally got my “spa-mper me” birthday and more. What was different with this year? I let God do the planning. I just went along for the ride. And what a blissful ride it was.