Songkhran - i just can't get enough of you

Why does the Thai new year fall on a day that is 38 degrees Celsius? Yeah, it was super hot and so these blokes hopped on their bicycles and took a ride through the streets of Bangkok.

They shared the road with some guys with white powder on the face...

Some with water guns and backpacks holding water...

...and buckets of white powder suspension with 4 guys to a motorbike all without safety helmets...

by the roadside were people whose only goal was to douse anyone who passed by...

most often they had barrels of water and ice

some just had drinking water bottles...

 ...which can't hold much, but the effort was worth it.

 this guy just stood there with a 200ml water gun. One 20ml squirt was all he could muster.

another guy blasted away with his bucket...

these guys took it to another level with their mixture of water and white powder...

that blotted out my sight for a few seconds.

a  mother and daughter tandem enjoying the afternoon.

this is the Rambutri - khao sarn area with a band playing and the soaked revelers all massed together

dinner by the road at Thewes on the way home... yeah that's durian.

extracting the money from a ziplock plastic bag.

 a final douse in front of Yanhee...

 ... 31 km done and it feels like we're kids again. 

HAPPY SONGKHRAN!

Retirement... watcha talkin 'bout?

Certain things in life that were a mystery to me are gradually gaining clarity in the recent days. This doesn’t pertain to spirituality as I have had my enlightenment about a decade ago. Neither is it about health and death as these have been my bed-mates since I left medical school nor is it about sexual attraction and love, because these have made my mind their playground even at an early age.

It is actually the mystery of retirement and growing out of a company's age limit policy. So this is it and how did it dawn on me? 

First, someone tells me that she heard someone - a reputable source, say that I will be terminated on the month of my 60th birthday, which was a few months away. This could not be construed as hearsay, because I was actually told 5 years ago by the HR office that 60 was the mandatory age for retirement for employees at Yanhee International Hospital. They wanted me to retire at 55, but my manager allowed me to choose if I should work 5 years more.

Second, someone asks my wife if I already know that I will be made to retire in less than two months... hmmm, this is getting to be freaky. People talk about it behind my back, but there is no official word. It's like the guys concerned are too timid to give me something that could possibly turn my world upside-down. 

C'mon guys, give it to me. I've been waiting 60 years for this moment!

A saga of love and endurance

The heart-wrenching photo above was trending for some time in Facebook and is actually the inspiration for the writing of this blog piece. The photo captures an entire family (dad-mom-son) in a tight embrace moments before dad is swallowed up by the pre-departure activities at Suvarnabhumi airport as he sets out to try his luck at employment in New Zealand. 

At this point the employment is still uncertain, considering that dad still has some schooling to do before he can take the test, pass it and become eligible to apply for a job. The job vacancy too is another unknown element. From all angles this venture can be seen as a gamble with stakes so high that guts, faith and sheer determination should be on hand to keep him fit and sane. Certainly not for the faint of heart.

At the other end of the spectrum is mom with a less than a year old son. She has to keep at her hospital job as a nurse while raising the kid on her own. Luckily there is a day-care center that keeps watch over Zach while she is on duty. At home she has to fend for herself and the kid, which everyone knows is made more difficult without dad or a help-maid present. 

One has to be a superwoman to be able to survive this setup. Monthly bills for both dad and mom is yet another aspect that could make one shirk from undertaking such a bold venture. 

Here are some Facebook screen shots to memorialize the week that Omar left.

Omar's:

Darlyn Ann's:

Darlyn Ann's discovery as soon as she got home from the airport - Omar's last message:

Darlyn Ann's message with instructions to open as soon as Omar arrives in New Zealand:

to be continued as the saga unfolds. Let's all pray for the soon reunion of this family.

March 17 updates: Dad's FB post - 

March 29... yeah, like the title says it's "a saga of love and endurance." (if endurance = aguanta)

March 30 update: There goes "superwoman." a regular sight in the morning before 8:00 as she heads to the day center to deposit Zach and then back to her work station for another 8-hour shift. Note the bags + the weight of the kid on those frail shoulders. images like these tug at my heart.

April 16 update: "happy 11th" but the emoticon is :-( (sad)

April 26 update: loneliness bordering on insanity

May 1 update: mom's eloquence and dad's jealousy. LOL

May 9 update: the invitation to Zach's first birthday minus dad 

May 15 update: Zach's birthday pose could have been better with the physical presence of dad. They had to make do with a cut-out photo.

May 20 update: The happiest twist in this saga so far!

May 23 update: All the hard work and the battle against loneliness is paying off one step at a time. Now to find the job and bring the family over.

July 1, 2016 update: This bit of news really made my day. God is awesome and this family will soon be reunited. Hallelujah!

July 7, 2016. This photo is proof and evidence of hard work, perseverance and trust in God. It also is the fruit of sacrifice, support and love exhibited by a wife who stands by her husband even when they are oceans apart. (photo taken on the 3rd day of duty in his brand new job)

11.29.16 This is the same
kid in the first photo above
who was sandwiched by his parents
in a farewell hug. Now he's at the
same airport ready to board the plane
to be reunited with his dad.

I don't know what is in mom's
mind at this moment, but i'm sure 
that she's just glad that she can now put 
all the months of loneliness behind.

Finally, this story can be finished and published. December 1, 2016... 9 months after the dad in this story left for New Zealand to stake out a home for the family, they are back in each others arms. Hard work, perseverance, endurance and unfathomable love carried these guys through loneliness and hardships. The rewards of this sacrifice will come as each day unfolds. God is good.

What's in a boy's mind?

A little over half a century ago a hyperactive 8-year old lad sat in Mrs. Corpus’ grade 1 class with an eye inconspicuously scanning the row of desks across the narrow aisle that separated the boys from the girls. The pupils at that side of the classroom were the usual bunch whose mothers hurriedly dressed up for school in an assortment of headbands, hair pins and over-powdered cheeks and crinkled shirts. One lass however, stood apart from the rest and this boy had to figure out why she was so attractive.

Was it her angelic face or the way she talked or walked? Was it her pleasant smell or was it the eyes that held him spellbound for most of the day?

Infatuation at this age easily translates to love, and for this love-dazed kid there was no doubt that his heart crazily throbbed for Anita. School work and play during recess breaks still had the bulk of his attention, but at the end of the day what really mattered was a smile or a word from her direction.

One day teacher Corpus had the kids draw a man for the lesson in art and this boy made a crayon drawing of an Aeta hunter in a G-string with a bow and arrow. The following day his work was posted on the art wall beside Anita’s with the arrow pointing at the butt of her drawing. Cupid? He silently wished it was.

Due to changes in his parents' job assignments, this boy had to move to a southern island for the succeeding school years. Seven summers later he comes back to the place where this story started and finds himself in a party with Anita. Everything that he felt in teacher Corpus' class comes rushing back like a tsunami and he tries desperately to keep his heart from beating out loud. The party ended and Anita exited forever from the boy's sight without an inkling of the madness that she had inadvertently started in his heart.

You can't hold the feelings of love in a prison forever... this one has just been released in this blog for the record. Anita Arevalo, where in the world are you?


postscript: I had to write this poem 2 days after the above story was posted on Facebook.

Whew! What a day!

A message pops up

Lady’s got something to say.

Philip was the name

She knew me back then,

Surprisingly vivid of what

Happened and when.

Yes, she was the girl

I mentioned in my story.

50 years ago

you can call it faded glory.

More details of the past

She added up to mine,

Speechless I sat

My glee not to confine.

Matters of the heart

May come by age.

You loved someone then

But you kept it in a cage.

Give your feelings wings

Let it soar to the sky.

Who knows to her heart

Someday it will fly.

Four months after the story was published - November 2, 2016, and the boy in this story is now a grizzly 60-year old doggie. He happens to be cycling through some of the parts of the US of A and Anita gets wind of his activity. When he comes cycling into her city she promptly calls his attention and he decides that this was the best opportunity to meet. Meet? Oh no... oh yes!

He didn't have any phone to assist in this rendezvous, but the wifi at starbucks got him online and facebook messenger patched him through. Anita unhesitatingly sent a message that she would locate him at the busy Union Station in Los Angeles for the half-a-century meeting of long lost friends. The boy held his breath as he watched the clock tick towards the departure time of his bus to Bakersfield. Would she come? Would the spell be broken and friends reconnected?

From nowhere this petite lady in black materializes, flashes a smile at his direction and the boy realized that the moment he dreaded most had come. Just like in his boyhood years making an opening statement was quite a task, but he finally managed to blurt out, "have we met before?" "do I know you?"

In his mind this boy thought they would talk over a cup of coffee. What actually happened was this:

The conversation went from the early childhood years to school years and livelihood years. Catching up for the 52 years of separation was crammed into about 2 hours and the two realized that they shared a lot of likes and dislikes and experiences in life. The best of those realizations was the fact the both had migrated out of their church of birth to be reborn in the Holy Spirit. No doubt they felt at ease with each other, because of the absence of hypocrisy and pretension, which are noted to be the main problems in their former congregation.

Before they knew it the time to part arrived and this boy had to board his bus for the two and a half hours trip to the San Joaquin Valley. 

God bless you Anita. You have proven to be a true friend and this boy is blessed beyond measure.

Iya Chronicles - A letter to Sofia

Dear Sofia,

This is not a time-capsule that should be opened after 50 years. Rather, it is an unsealed letter, which I hope you will discover decades from now when some of your forbears have already gone, and the circumstances surrounding your birth may have either been lost or forgotten, in the interminable grind of life.

Even before you were born you were an unseen magnet - a unifier. From Virginia to San Jose and San Diego your busy uncles and aunt trooped to Bakersfield like migrating salmon leaping through rushing rivers to unite at the shallow streams where life starts, because they knew that you would be born.

A few nights before your first yell, your kin were already celebrating your imminent appearing over mugs of beer and plates of delicious food.

In the main limelight was your mom under the watchful eyes of the doctors. Her blood pressure was precariously high and her kidneys were starting to buckle under the strain. The decision to bring you out ahead of the safest allowable date weighed heavily on the doctors' minds. 

You too were being monitored and the first sign showing that your mom's condition was also affecting you was the urgent signal to deliver you by cesarean section. 

While on the operating table the first thing the surgeon noticed as he looked into the incision of your mom's uterus was the umbilical cord neatly coiled around your neck, not once, but twice. The decision to bring you out by cesarean section was then not only the best... it was your only safe option. From then on you would be considered by the doctors as a miracle.

I don't have the slightest idea of what you would have become 20 - 30 years from this writing, but I trust that God's presence in your first breath will always keep you trusting Him and sharing His love to others.

just look at the smile on your grandpa and grandma's faces. Uncle Benny drove 4 hours from San Jose just to be there for you.

 Aunt Elaine and uncle Banjong... from San Diego and Virginia.

The hospital where you were born... don't mind the riotous 

crowd in front.

 your dad and mom dressed and ready for the operating room

 your ever supportive grandmother

finally you're out...but you go straight into our own bubble for a few days until your lungs fully mature. you also had to be treated for a spike of bilirubin in the blood.

The photo before your uncles and aunt head back to their own worlds.

I hope you enjoyed my own perspective of your birth. I'm in Bangkok Thailand - half a world from where you were born, as I tap this letter on the computer. We also had a small gathering here to celebrate your life.

I love you,

Lolo Sunni