Life Lessons

Just came back from Binan, we took time out to visit my mother-in-law who has been sick these past few days. There was no traffic on the way so we were there by lunch. Jacob was in a good mood today, he only cried for 2 minutes hehe. All day he was running and playing with the people around him, this made him happy and made the people craving his attention even happier. He watched in awe as I made bubbles with his P50 bubble machine and played with his slinky toy. Life for my son was good.

This made me to think how life is for me. As we were having lunch one of Jenny's aunt made a bold prediction for 2009. In a nutshell 2009 will be very hard for most people due to the crisis at hand. She's quite a firebrand in the finance world so this assessment should not be taken lightly, if there was a bitter pill this was it. I began to think of how miserable things will be and how it will affect us as a family. These things bother me now I must admit, more so now that I have a family of my own to raise. My finger is looking for the panic button and making up dozens of strategies to tide us over this financial mess. Mind you this happened in just a few minutes, in my mind everything is in overdrive.

I took a pause and glanced at Jacob, he was eating ice cream like crazy, his mouth was covered with food and his smile was big. His eyes were firmly fixed as each scoop would glide towards him. I wish I could eat like him, happy and thankful for each serving. He was running around and exploring every cabinet in the kitchen. He would fall down once in a while but would quickly get up as if nothing happened. Falling down has become part of his life now since he likes to run around a lot.

Looking back, once he hit his head on the wall and fell flat on his back, he started crying but as he did that he was getting back on his feet, still clutching his toys (some plastic kitchen utensils) in is hands. After a few minutes he stopped crying and started playing again as if nothing happened. It was a funny and scary situation for a father to see but I'm proud to see that my son was man enough to get up on his feet after a fall.

Back at the lunch table, I took a step back and realized that the experiences we have with one another is more valuable that anything material on this planet. Having my family around makes me realize that money has no real value, it is true that it's buys us things and makes life more comfortable but in the end It's an empty promise of true happiness.


Learn the meaning of the word hope from Nick Vujicic

I began to look at the situation in a more positive light, my Dad would always say to me "Without crisis there is no growth". I guess what he meant by that was all of these things will test our character, make us more aware of what's important and has value both for work and family life.

I guess with this crisis I must find a way to restore my faith in that statement and continue with life crisis or no crisis, to take life one day at a time and to find joy in ice cream and making bubbles.