keeping afloat

I was still in Manila that Saturday morning at around 2am when i read a facebook post from a friend abroad asking for prayers as our city in Iligan is supposedly flooded. i sent my niece a text message, their residence is known to experience floods when rains get too heavy. true enough, their home is now flooded up to the second floor! they managed to cross to the other side towards their neighbor which has more rooms on their third floor. rain abated a bit but they could still hear the rush of water around them as if the river is just nearby.

they somehow managed to leave the place and transfer to my mom's home in Noria which thankfully was untouched by flood waters. that was already around 11am. 

that is the wooden plank which they used to cross through to the other house. "they" included my sister and her 2 daughters, 2 sons, grandchildren ages 3 years old and one month old, and my 5 year old son.

when i saw the news the morning after and the extent of the damage to properties and to the staggering number of casualties i just could not help but be grateful that they all survived.

i went home to Iligan that Sunday and these are my aerial photos of Cagayan de Oro. debris are still floating in the rivers towards the seas. and i later learned that these are actually houses carried away by the rushing waters. in it were lives lost as well. 

1000 lives perished, and still counting...

thousands of families displaced.

a lot more are still missing.

millions of infrastructure destroyed. 

it's been several days, people are still trying hard to rebuild their lives while bodies are still about to be recovered and be laid to rest.

what does one do really? we try hard to keep afloat especially when Christmas time is about to come, supposedly the merriest time of the year.

and since we are still one of the lucky ones, we try to do our share in helping each other out. nature has it's own way of shaking us off our own stupor of apathy and neglect, hopefully we all learn from all this and live each of our precious lives more meaningfully now.

this is our littlest boy survivor oblivious to the perils in this world. let's all hope and pray for a better tomorrow for them.

a blessed Christmas to all. 

missing my patronus

one difficulty with LDRs is when you have those moments when you are feeling emo. those times when you just want a hug or a peck or someone to scratch your restless fingernails on. 

i remember last summer when he was still here and i was feeling this same sh1t i posted on my fb wall that "i need my patronus". i didn't really specify anything or anyone but i got a call from him telling me that he's gonna come and see me and we'll have dinner even if it's just fom Jollibee. i asked him why, we didn't have any sked that day since we've been seeing each other too often the past days and we were spending way too much as well. anyway, he just said he read my status and that he wanted to see me and give me a hug and be my patronus while he's in town. aww. 

well anyway, i had that same moment tonight. i was feeling down and restless and sad and depressed and desperately needed a pick upper. i couldn't bother him because of different time zones, sucks yeah. and i know he is so busy these days and i can't just bother him with my whimsical woes. 

so i left the office early and thought of something significant to do. i went to NBS to buy book ends for my comic books and er, books. then i was hungry and wanted to eat something special but i felt like wanting to cook just so i could distract myself. i went to the supermarket but on the way there i changed my mind thinking i'll just go to Mom and Tina's instead. i went there, sat down and pored on the menu, didn't like anything and left. i went to Pancake House, sat down checked the menu again, and this waiter kept on asking if i was with somebody. after sitting there for several minutes i stood up and left again. then walked some more. waah, i felt lost, i felt like i needed to do something with my life and must start with having a significant night but i dunno where to go and people at the resto would keep on asking me if i wanted a table for two!!

then i went to Cafe Sweet Inspirations and ogled on the cakes, oh that's more like it. so i got meself a slice and wolfed it down. then i skipped on home happily.

sorry magulo. PMS lang ito. bukas niyan okay na ako uli. 

my point is, yes, it's never easy and yes i do go through those moments of helplessness and yes distance is definitely a b1tch but it should not deter you from keeping on loving the person that you love just because they are far away.