Then and Now

Then: I wouldn’t give a damn cooking at home...mommy’s there anyway!
Now: I would turn off the tv just so I could learn from my sister’s cooking. I even cook on my own now!

Then: I’d do the laundry while surfing the net or watching tv
Now: I go to Laundromat and wait for the laundry to finish in an hour or two while sitting and listening repeatedly to the 6 songs uploaded in my cellphone

Then: Bobby or I would usually insist on washing the dishes after eating
Now: I miss to have someone who’d insist washing the dishes for me

Then: I didn’t have a sense of direction
Now: I’m developing this skill little by little with a little bit of help from my subway map

Then: I’d rather take the jeepney or tricycle even if my destination is just a few blocks away
Now: I’d rather walk than take the bus to my unknown and unfamiliar destinations for fear of missing the bus stop where I should get off

Then: I’d rather take the car and spend on gas than commute
Now: I’d rather commute not because it’s too hard to find a parking space, but because I don’t have a car!

Then: I couldn’t endure walking at shopping malls for more than an hour...my legs would hurt a lot!
Now: I could walk around malls for 6 long hours and feel no pain...even if I didn’t buy anything at all.

Then: I’d miss Bobby even after we’ve just parted
Now: I miss Bobby even after we’ve just chatted

Then: I am my own boss
Now: I am unwaged and in search of a job


It has only been 2 weeks and 6 days and a lot has changed already. Things do really happen for a purpose and I guess God has a lot in store for me here. There are ups and downs, but I am learning a lot being in a new place. Quite a short span of time has passed, but things have changed significantly. It was just like yesterday...I was just dreaming, planning and praying then... Now, I am trying to survive, live and fulfill this dream...this so-called “American dream”.

A Proposal Extraordinaire

There was no kneeling in front of me…He didn’t pop the question, “Will you marry me?” nor I cried while saying “Yes, I will marry you…”

None of these happened. Instead, everything was so extraordinarily simple, yet unforgettable.

He sent me up to the entrance of the airport. Then he brought out a small black box from his pocket, opened it, and put on my finger, a ring. All that he was able to say was, “Babalikan mo ako ha…” while I managed to say “Oo naman…”

Then I left, crying. He texted me afterwards and said, “Marry me when you get back.”

Tears flooded down my face. I was actually crying already even before that, for it was my day of departure for the US. I cried even more because I am leaving him, indefinitely.

It may have happened not over a candlelight dinner, with musicians playing romantic music…not the usual marriage proposals that we usually see in movies. But I may say that, there couldn’t have been a more perfect moment and a more memorable place than where it all transpired.

I will surely marry him when I get back…and live together, a life extraordinaire.