Season 28

 


May 4, 2022, marked my 28th revolution around the sun. Like any other birthday, I started it by attending the dawn mass, thanking God for all the blessings, graces, and learnings I’ve received. I’ve been talking about how I was for the past few months – letting go of something I held dear and moving on to greater frontiers. So, to start my life’s new year I decided to do a lot of things.

 

I’ll be honest, I purposely hid my birthday on my social media accounts to avoid being in the spotlight on my birthday. I wanted to just be low-key and have a small and intimate celebration. And this has helped me with what I planned. I’ve recently been assigned to 3 health centers in Cebu City, Pasil, San Roque, and San Antonio. I thought it would be unfair if I celebrated in just one health center, so I planned to have a 3-day celebration with my staff. In addition to that, I wanted my staff to be surprised instead of them surprising me. But organizing the surprise by myself was hard, my health staff already bought food for lunch when the food I ordered arrived in Pasil, while in San Antonio when the food arrived my health staff wasn’t around, and in San Roque when I arrived my staff had just eaten their lunch. Nonetheless, I was able to surprise all three health centers by asking them to cooperate to not post anything unless I do so.

 



Another part of my birthday celebration was watching Dr. Strange 2 by myself. This year is different because I am set and determined to love myself more than I already do. With the pandemic, movie theaters have been closed for some time now and for 5 years I’ve watched movies in theaters with someone who unfortunately can no longer accompany me. So, a week before the premiere I already my ticket online. While buying I was left with 2 good seats (good in terms of where I want to sit), P9 and Q10. At P9, to my right were 3 seats while at Q10 there were 2. I assumed a couple would be seated to the right of Q10 while at P9 it would either be a group of friends or a family. So, I chose P9 and it turned out that my guess was right. I also chose to watch the movie on May 5 because we planned to have a small intimate dinner on May 4. So, on May 5th I was more excited. After work, I immediately went to Ayala for the movie. I saw a lot of people heading to the cinema, mostly friends and couples. While lining up I felt alone, they all had someone to talk to while lining up for popcorn and upon entering. But there I was, all by myself. But quite surprisingly, I did not long for a specific someone to be there with me. Instead, I chatted with my sister and Arnita, telling them where I was and what I’m doing. And of course, they were both encouraging. When the movie was about to start, I placed my phone on “Do Not Disturb” because I didn’t want to be disturbed (obviously) and because Dr. Strange is my Marvel Hero ultimate bias. I finished watching the movie, and I was happy with my decision. I proved to myself that I am okay with being by myself. I’m not the type that needs explanation while watching a movie, I’m more of the one who explains the movie, so apparently, I am not at a loss.

 



The last part of my birthday celebration is a solo drive to the South, to Theotokos Shrine, Archbishop Teofilo Camomot Shrine, and, lastly to Simala Shrine which I plan to do on May 7th. It’s a 70-kilometer drive from my home and it’s the same place I went to for my birthday last year, again, with the same person that I usually watch movies with. I especially wanted to do this drive alone and called it “my liberation trip” but unfortunately, I wasn’t given the permission to do so because I recently re-injured my ankle. Yes, re-injured. Being the brat and hardheaded person that I am, I showed some attitude toward my parents, which is bad, it is against the 3rd commandment of God, and upon realizing that, I agreed with their compromise, which is to bring a driver. I didn’t realize the advantage of bringing a driver yet because I kept thinking of how my plan was spoiled. I wanted to concentrate mainly on driving, no lingering thoughts here and there, just driving while listening to my preferred music. Later though, I realized the beauty of bringing a driver. I was able to enjoy the view, taking in fully what nature has to offer. I also got myself a personal photographer. Though a little bit rough on the edges, my driver took decent photos despite his old age, some are even Instagram-worthy. My thoughts when I planned the trip were to test whether I’d still feel hurt or have I moved on. I already knew I was healing but up to what extent is what I don’t know. But when I got to the locations, I only thought of him in passing, I was more absorbed in the place. Theotokos Shrine sustained quite a lot of damage after the typhoon Odette. Many statues had chipped off parts, the most damaged I guess was the statue of St. Michael. While in Archbishop Teofilo Camomot there was only little damage that I noticed. This place had always felt like a haven for me, I was at peace there, praying for my family, friends (old and new ones), for myself, and the upcoming elections. I didn’t expect that there would be a lot of people at Simala. The line for the image was quite long so I didn’t line up, instead, I just prayed at one spot where I won’t be disturbed by the people around me.

 




I met up with Lochelle and Arnita that day for a late lunch. We talked about how our lives have been since we passed the board exam, our jobs, and our relationships. It always feels nice to be with people who value you and give off a sense of family and security. These two were with me when I was having a hard time in Bohol because of a relationship that I’ve been trying to hold on to and now that I have let go, they are still with me.

 



I have four realizations from my birthday. First, I realized that I have constantly proved that I am capable of a lot of things. Things might have been different and are continually changing but I am constantly adapting. I am flexible enough that I can easily adjust to some sudden change or to some shortcomings like how I manage to surprise my health center staff.  Second, I have always been complete as a human, independent and strong. Like how I was able to watch a movie by myself and enjoy it fully. At some point, it might seem like I’m dependent on someone but regardless of that person, I am complete. But that doesn’t mean I will no longer need help, which leads to my third realization, help will always be appreciated. New opening doors, new people who might impact might my life significantly are always welcome. And lastly, old relationships, those that are worthy ones will forever be the treasures that I won’t give up on. 

 

I’m in my 28th season now with a new plot story, new plot twists, new setting, said goodbye to some characters who were there for character development, with maybe a few new characters here and there, and of course still with the permanent characters. I am very grateful and very much looking forward to this new season. 🦋🌸






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Passenger Seat

Image
Early August, I started writing up a draft for a new blog entry. But I didn’t get to finish it because I felt like it was unreal – it wasn’t 100% what I truly felt. Today, I woke up from a good sleep, one which was just enough and was uninterrupted without the help of medications – and thought to myself, I think I am getting better.   2023 has been much of a roller coaster year, still on God’s list of strong, faithful warriors.   I was admitted twice this year, yes twice – January and September, both for methylprednisolone pulse treatment.  After I was admitted (the first time), I had to undergo a series of trips to the laboratory, to the hospital, and to the clinic, not as a doctor but as a patient.    Every month I had to stay in a hospital bed for hours as I received intravenous medications, and every single time I got to be pricked multiple times before an IV line was successfully inserted. But I also got to befriend different nurses, like Ms. Karina and Ms. Rose.    I also got to
Read more

On-Going Battles

Image
 As 2022 ended, I was proud and happy about how far I reached and how I became stronger. I was planning to write a love letter kind of blog, disguised as if written for a certain someone special like a lover but is for myself. Admittedly, I had a rough end for 2021 and a start for 2022. But I pulled through 2022 and am now in 2023. What I didn’t know is that for 2023 I still am on God’s strong warriors' list.      As most of my friends, relatives, and readers already know, I’ve been diagnosed to have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus last 2020 and have been cautiously and vigilantly living with it for the past 3 years hoping I can put the disease to sleep. On most days I forget that I have the disease but on certain days she doesn’t fail to remind me that she exists – “she” because my mom would call it my “twin”. Despite the rough start of 2022, I managed to be where I want to be and start to realize my dreams and aspirations slowly – I started residency training in General Surgery in a
Read more

Best Choice Ever

Image
On April 26, during a random chat with my friends, I jokingly told them that I along with Arnita will be going to Davao. Unknown to them I was talking to someone who was from Davao at that time and was curious about his hometown (and of course pretty much interested in the said man). It was just a passing idea but in early July when I got word that I am going to start my residency on August 1 (yes, I was successfully accepted to train in Surgery), and when I found out Arnita has a 1 week leave, I thought “let’s get out of Cebu because who knows when the next opportunity will come”. It’s unfortunate that Shena and Dorlen could not join us, but our 1st international trip would definitely be with our complete group. So, after securing our parents’ permission, I booked our tickets 2 weeks prior and there’s no turning back.   It's been 2 years since my girls, and I gathered and 4 years since our last getaway. Supposedly, we were going to fly to Korea right after our graduation and befor
Read more