Category: Writing

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Milestones

Yay! Made it through the first week of posting daily … and now I need to get through 3 more weeks. I can do this … I can do this …

Well, especially since I really should be spending this “lazy” Sunday afternoon actually doing those every day tasks I should be doing at work. Like getting some weekly case reviews together, and calculating … oh, who cares ?!

Point is, work’s network decided that I spent enough time at my work desk yesterday that I’m not able to log in remotely today. At least one of us is looking out for my sanity …

So instead I get to spend the afternoon writing today’s post earlier than 7 pm at night.

And today’s post is one that I should have written on Wednesday, but honestly knew I wouldn’t have the time I really wanted to spend on writing it. So today’s the day.

Last Wednesday would have been my Grandma Rose’s 100th birthday. And while I know Grandma is in a better place, I can’t help but be just a little sad that she wasn’t here to celebrate this milestone birthday with us.

About a year and half ago, all of the Aunts and Uncles started plans to organize a “family reunion” in the Philippines, just in time for my Grandma’s 100th birthday. By this time, I had already been in contact with quite a few of my cousins on Facebook. We had all talked about surprising her by making the trip out to the Philippines just to be there for this special birthday. But by Christmas time 2008, Grandma was beginning her decline and plans had been put on hold. And then Good Friday rolled around, and then Grandma was no longer her with us on Earth.

Picture of my Grandma Rose from my cousin Reena ... Click on the picture to see her website!

I think about what this loss means to me and to my relationship with my Mom’s side of the family. She was the string that TIED all of us Aunts and Uncles and cousins together; the common bond that we all shared. It would have been incredible to go to this “family reunion” and spend time with all my cousins and Aunts and Uncles. As it is now, most of my Mom’s side of the family live on the East coast  or are still back in the Philippines, so we rarely see them anyway. I just happened to get lucky by keeping in touch with a few of them on Facebook. But sometimes … especially when you actually know the person IRL … well, sometimes it’s just much better to be able to spend “real” time with them.

Anyway, even though it will be a year this coming April, not a day goes by where I don’t think of my Grandma Rose.

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On completely separate note … I must say that today I’ve reached a milestone of my own.
Just shy of three years, I’ve officially written my 300th post. Go me!!

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Common Threads

Not quite the "suprised" look I was looking for in my batch of pics ...

Wow. Oh, wow! I woke up to a great suprise this morning.

Well, okay … technically I was at work where I should have been updating all my staff’s databases for 2010* … but yeah. Instead I was tweaking some stuff on my blog.

Which, by the way. Like the new look? I figured it was time to shake it up a little, as it’s been about two years since I’ve changed my look. (Really, I’d love to do my own little design … but yeah, that would mean the cheapskate in me would have to shell out moolah.)

ANYHOO ... As I was saying, I was on my blog do some admin stuff when I noticed a particular person’s <clears throat> Mel <cough> website URL kept popping up on my “Referrers” section. So imagine my suprise when I found out some WONDERFUL person wrote a little ditty about how much my blog inspires them.

Wow. That just totally blew me away. I feel like I should be standing up behind the magic mike stand (you know, the one that disappears once the person is done speaking?) to thank the entire blogoverse for allowing me to write as freely as I do. And specifically to thank everyone for actually reading my words.

Oh, and did I mention this was all done anonymously ?! So … seriously, *THANK YOU* to whomever wrote such beautiful words about me. You honestly don’t know how much it means to me …

The "Stirrups Queen" herself (with the Tiara) along with me, Io and Aunt Becky (left to right) at BlogHer 2009

Anyway, for those of you that aren’t familiar with Mel from Stirrup Queens … she is one of the ALI (Adoption, Loss and Infertility) community’s biggest chieftans. She is *the* person who has managed to organize the lot of us ALI bloggers under one roof … and she’s typically the one who puts the “shout out” to all of us when one of us in need of good support. That’s why it’s perfect that she used to blog under the name “The Town Criers.”

Okay … so yeah, getting sidetracked here again. But I thought it’s very important for those that may stumble onto my site for a variety of reasons to know where to find a comprehensive list of resources for Adoption, Loss and Infertility.

HOWEVER … I *am* finally getting to the point of this post and how it ties (ba-dum-dum) into February’s NaBloPoMo theme. And it’s this …

One of the reasons I started blogging about my Infertility journey was because I felt extremely alone. I felt that there was no one in my immediate surroundings that would even begin to understand what I was going through. Throw in the fact that I’m Filipino-American, where being a mother is seen as a woman’s main purpose in life and where infertility or loss isn’t ever talked about amongst even the closest of close family members … well, yeah. Let’s just say that, other than my Hubby, I didn’t feel as if I had any support AT ALL.

Visiting Kara in La Jolla, Aug 2008

But as I began to peruse through other IF-er’s blogs, I began to feel less alone … less isolated. And stumbling onto Mel’s blogroll? Well yeah, I totally hit the jackpot.

From there I managed to find a bunch of other bloggers that have since become closer to me in the blogoverse than some of my IRL friends. I’m sure that part of the reason is the vast internet space that separates us; which, in turn, allows us to be more open and honest to each other than those who might even live under the same roof.

So how does this relate back to the whole “Ties” theme for NaBloPoMo? It’s simple.

Sometimes there is one common thread that ties one complete stranger to another one. In my world … specifically my Blog World … it’s my infertility. And now, as I travel down a new path … it’s my decision to live with my husband child-free after infertility.

Again … thank you Miss (or Mister?) Anonymous for such lovely words. Sometimes it’s those little suprises in life that keep propelling me forward … especially in my quest to find the next grand adventure in my life.

~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~

*What can I say? I’m a month behind? And isn’t that the story of my life?!

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My Favorite "Tie"

Day two of NaBloPoMo; and the theme for the month is “Ties.”

So what will I talk about today? Hmmm … How about my favorite “Tie”? And yes, that would be Hubby.

For those of you that know me IRL, the fact that Hubby is my #1 “Tie” is a double-entendre. Not only is he my favorite thing to keep “tied” to, but well … y’all IRL-ers know *exactly* what I mean. Tee-hee!

I mean, seriously, Hubby is the Tie that I refer to when I think about wanting to be tied to something … er, rather some *one*.

It’s one thing to “Tie the knot” with the love of my life … it’s a completely different thing to want to spend most of my waking hours with him.

Simply put, Hubby is my best friend. And I wouldn’t want to be tied up … er, tied down by anyone else.

Wouldn't want Hubby to "Lego" of me ...
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February Ties

Yep. I’m going to try this NaBloPoMo thingy again. After all, I was pretty successful in November of 2008; and seeing that I have been … ahem … lacking in writing posts lately, I figured this would be a good way to jump start my creative juices again.

And why not? February is a short month. Good month to try to post an entry a day for the entire month.

For those of you that aren’t aware, NaBloPoMo is essentially a group of people who have committed to updating their blogs once a day for an entire month. November tends to be the “big month” to attempt this feat, but anyone can try to post every day for an entire month at the beginning of each month.

Oh, and each month tends to focus around a central theme. This month’s theme is “Ties.” Yeah … pretty vague. But I suppose that’s a good thing; seeing that I can find a variety of different meanings for “Ties.”

So stick around to see what creative things I can write about “Ties.”

Post #1 done. Twenty-seven more to go …