Souls Departed

This post is a day late. My late stepmother’s birthday was yesterday. However, as always, I have been caught up in work and other personal stuff, so I wasn’t able to stop and write about something.

She was a fun person. She wasn’t the usual stepmother character that used to be portrayed in fiction where she had imaginary horns and always made things difficult. In fact, she was kind and nice to me. She did not treat me like a daughter, which was just as well because I honestly did not see her as a mother. I already had a mother, and I did not have the need for one more. She also did not try to be my best friend. When I lived with her and my dad, I was at a point in my life where all I wanted was to get away and go some place where nobody really knew where I came from, and I could pretend I had a pretty normal life.

I am thankful for the years I spent with her and my father. It was during those years that I realized exactly what I wanted to happen with my life. I realized I wanted to be on my own, how badly I wanted to be free. So when the first chance at freedom came to me, I grabbed it without any second thoughts.

I try not to regret anything that’s happened in my life, any decision that I’ve made. However, the only regret that I may have is that I never got to thank her personally. I wish I could have seen her before she passed away. I wish I was able to tell her that all is well. Wherever she is right now, I can only pray that she has found peace and happiness that may seem to have eluded her while she was alive.

It’s So Nice To Be Happy

I have learned a very important thing over the holidays. I’ve been sick for almost a week now, but I am still as positive and energetic as I can be. I spent New Year’s Eve shivering with cold while the rest of my friends and family sang their hearts out to their favorite songs (we had videoke for the entire neighborhood). Videoke is our version of the popular Karaoke wherein you choose a song and you sing it to the best that you can.

Even as I felt my body start to give in to sickness, I still tried to celebrate the coming of 2010 with my friends and family. I just had to sleep earlier than them because any later, I would have been too sick to even write this blog today. The lesson that I learned? Well, it’s the fact that even when we have so much fun being with our friends, partying, celebrating, or doing stuff we like, nothing can still beat the happiness that our family can bring. It’s just so different when we’re with our family.

I am so fortunate that I got to celebrate Christmas and New Year with the most important people in my life. I know that not everybody celebrated the holidays with joy. But I can only hope that my fellowmen who feel so sad and desperate will one day find it in their hearts to be happy again. I hope that they will find peace and that they will never turn away from God.