to be older...

In less than a week, i will be one year older. Wiser? I have no idea. Hope so.

There are many things I am grateful for for the past twenty seven years-- great friends, great adventures, even moments of grief. Sure there were really sad days, but there were great ones as well. And as one gets older (and wiser :)) one stops to learn to appreciate the things that are there and not the things that are not there.

things that makes this 27 year life memorable

1. great friends-- everyone who made life memorable for me
2. my cats-- oliver (bacatelli amoy amoy), datu sylvester kamlon javert, fern gully, siomai, patricia, hospy, wilkins, mozart, frodo, siopao, angel, paula, bambam, polkie dots, chabelita, cocaine, and all the others i might have forgotten through the years.
3. coach
4. badminton-- finally learning a sport and loving it
5. archery-- even if it was a short stint, it was fun while it lasted
6. UP days-- the best!
7. Al, paulette, tamie, bubba, eleisha and the rest of my gilkerson family
8. ella and our foodtrips-- who could forget our lunchouts to all those far flung places!
9. camping at caliraya-- and ang cellphone ni aldwin na nalunod
10. cebu bohol adventure
11. boracay plane ride
12. 4:30 pm merienda breaks with weevens, cha, oliver and maria ces
13. grand diva, curlettes, pearly shells, kc and bebs, hello kitty-- just naming them makes life a bliss. hahaha
14. greatness and kikay
15. isaw and fishballs of UP Campus
16. mang jimmy's tapa mix
17. leching's chicken mami and sharksfin siomai
18. Espanya train adventure with vesper-- true evidence of grace under pressure!
19. nearly drowning in the flash flood with obeng along timog
20. starbucks-- where great friends and great memories are formed and made!
21. p10-- friends forever
22. my 300plus book collection
23. cellphones
24. the heartbreaks, the tears, the bwisets and failures in life-- if they cant break you, they'll make you stronger
25. diving in the caves of bohol (and not knowing how to swim)
26. going on a 10 year remission from ITP-- If it can be done once, it can be done again
27. macau adventures in 2004 and finally eating in a true chinese resto in china.

a poem once said, "after a while you learn...."

yes. i have learned so much in the course of the past 27 years.

i learned that happiness in life is not measured with what you have and how much you are given.. but rather by the things you did to make every moment count.