monday fantasies

if money were not an issue, i would be working at some quirky neighborhood coffeeshop or in an international airport (a regional hub preferably. cannot be in manila).  such warmth, vibrance and energy in these places, don't you think so?

the frenzy of the comings and goings of the travelers in the airport excites me.  i think it's hard to get bored there, especially if you enjoy people watching. if it's in frankfurt airport, i'd be riding a bike inside its wide halls like its workers do, spotting kababayans and engaging them in chit chats while they wait for their flights.

btw, i have decided i really like our village simply because 
i get to see up close everyday on my way to work 
the airplanes on the runway,  ready to take off. 

i always think about the people inside those planes.  

are they excited about going away or going home? 
coz i would be. 

coffee. its aroma never fails to transport me to a beautiful place, even if i'm smack in the middle of harrison plaza (which is not the kind of place you want to preserve, even if it's the first mall in the country, trust me.).

hmmm...
why not run my own coffeeshop?  i'll call it "brew ha" LOL.
maybe "Kina Joe at Frankie" KJF.
 ang bagong hangout ng mga taxi drivers & minimum wage earners.
walang ingles2x. tagalog or bisaya 'pag nag-take ng order.

Or, or, and/or, sell artisan chocolates.  premium dark only, 70% up.  

what's the brand name going to be?  "ellen's"!  
(zak, that won't sell, i'm telling you.)  
wait, i think i'm going to call it "Lily".  

but if you get to build your own brand of chocolate someday son, 
you can name it after me :)

bliss. ain't it bliss.

two saturdays ago

600h, 12Feb, Air Force City

love, actually

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. 

When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love, actually, is all around.”

- opening lines from the movie "love actually"

3 stories

Sunday's newspaper was filled with stories about marriage - failed, recovering and flourishing.  

One story was of a socialite who finally gave up on her husband who had already left her (anyway) for someone she knows so well, a friend in her prayer group.  the betrayal of betrayals.

another story was of the wife of a famous sportsman who have had some very public affairs, the latest of which was so intense it almost permanently tore their marriage apart. but it didn't, and the Affair ended and the marriage survived.

the last one was by Rica Bolipata-Santos, about her marriage that has just turned 16. 

if the other two stories sowed fear and cynicism, hers gave inspiration and warmth with her moving testimony of the beauty of the deepest intimacy.  she wrote about love and its many manifestations in her marriage:

"..looking at him as he changed a tire in the car, exhausted from the day, I realized how wonderful he was — that he could change a tire. Such a useful thing compared to my own gifts. How grateful my heart that someone as flimsy as me could have him to anchor me. "

"In our fourth year, I lose so much blood that I collapse into his arms. His words to me right before I slip into unconsciousness: “Do Not Leave Me.” A command, not a whisper. His own realization that my frailty was a thing that only he could fully witness. No one else has seen how weak I truly am."

"On our first month of marriage, I spoke of how unhappy I was at work and he cried."

"The crazy, impulsive choices I’ve made, the disasters we can both predict, but am allowed to take, an absolute gift. And to hold each other when others die..."

"In the 12th year, facing each other in a public place listing what we did not like about each other, laughing — the honesty of such an exercise. There is relief in the heart that one can say the most awful things and still be loved."

Love is such a beauty, if you care enough to recognize it. And she does.

Wrapping up her story, this is what she had to say:

"To be in a marriage is to stand the test of time together, by choice, until death do us part. It is lunacy, really — to counter the natural tendency of all things to become old and ordinary. But it is this very lunacy that makes it extraordinary."

I intend to write, anniversary after anniversary, that same conviction about marriage and of my utmost gratitude for the love shared with the man who is the Constant in my life.