Jandrea...so far

 Found this in an old album created in February 2019. I can’t even remember if I ever delivered what I wrote but after reading this, I thought it was stuff good enough to share… I. Why I was asked to give the welcome remarks: Not because I am beautiful but because I am only 1 of 2 seniors in the Execom.   II. Pero sa totoo lang kahit feel ng nanay at tatay ko na maganda ako, hindi naman ako pinasali sa beauty contest nang bata pa ako. At alam ko na kung bakit! Kailangan kasi maputi, sexy, at matangkad. E hanggang height lang meron ako!        A. Too dark, black beauty        C. Too thin III. Good thing these standards of beauty no longer apply to us. For me, the standards of beauty change when we reach our Senior years         A. Instead of a shapely body, our lumps and bumps are beautiful because these are the evidence to we carried a child, brought it to life, and prepared many meals for our family’s sustenance....

On my way home from my 9th chemo session at the hospital, I remember that the sun shone brightly in the midst of grey clouds! It looked like it was going to rain, but did not! Just like the hiccups and wrinkles we experience every time a chemo session is scheduled, at the end of the day everything goes well!  I am on my way home and the gold of the sun manages to outshine the grays of the clouds!   

 Balak ko noon ay abutin Rurok ng langit Kalalim-laliman ng dagat Magkabilang dulo ng daigdig Ngunit ang laan pala sa akin  Yakapin  ang liwanag ng buwan Sisirin ang kaalaman ng mundo At tahakin ang landas patungo sa iyo! 

 They say that what you say or do reflects your inner world! Two days ago, I spent many minutes staring into a blank piece of paper trying to conjure an image from the depths of me that I could translate into art! It was after midnight, dark and quiet, and I was hoping to create something sinister because of the atmosphere! Instead, the first strokes of the paintbrush yielded regular, everyday flowers! How boring, I thought! With strong intent to veer away from ordinariness, the next floral images emerged from my imagination! In the blank space left after sleep crept into me, I would paint a tree the next morning. The task was completed yielding something both unexpected and expected! I started with the objective of culling something from the darkness of me and yet what came out was a work that was light and color-filled!  My realization: “Kahit pala may ikinukubli sa  dilim, mahirap palang pigilan ang pagdungaw ng liwanag!”

 

 Saw this picture in the web and it caught my eye because of the symbols found in the ring. Once upon a time, they bore a heavy signifcance in my life. They stood for how two people could never be together, no matter how they tried. 

 I realized not too long ago that when you’re a retired senior and no longer answerable to people or an organization, you are free to open a gate which allows you to release your pent-up frustrations and you no longer mince words to express them! Colorful language, while shocking to others, especially if they’re coming from normally prim and proper you, is only an exercise in coming up with puns and hilarious and witty comebacks for those who make you suffer!  On the other hand, your creativity and imagination is also allowed to run free because you are no longer afraid of criticism and consequences! Even if people will probably not heap praises on a creative work, you do it anyway because it makes you happy! That’s all that should matter! Clumsy works can always be excused on account of your advanced age and inexperience with something new, you reason! So like the child that you were 6 decades ago, you go ahead and paint a mythical land where blue trees grow flowers of very h...