WHEN FINISHING LAST BECOMES GLORIOUS VICTORY!

 5 years ago today, I attempted to run from Luneta, Manila to Palace in the Sky, Tagaytay to raise funds for the Down Syndrome Association of the Phils. Inc. (DSAPI). I was the last to finish but why am I grinning from ear to ear? 

FLASHBACK:

One could feel the bursting energy of the crowd gathered at Km. 0 in Luneta, waiting for the GunOff to start the 60Km race organized by Prince Multisports. I was with Mikee Santos (daughter of my HOLD Sister Lulu),  a Certified Mountain Hiker whom I requested to accompany me all the way to Palace in the Sky, Tagaytay.  We were advised of a slight delay because of an unfortunate road accident along Roxas Blvd. It was already past midnight when we excitedly hit the road!

I intended to start really really slow but had to run faster than my usual pace because I was with Mikee, a young and strong woman. So far, so good—but not for long.

FAST FORWARD TO KM 42:

My left foot which started bothering me at Km 7 was now killing me when I walk. My right knee was now torturing me when I run. The 1:1 (1 min. run: 1 min. walk) Interval I was accustomed to could no longer be adapted. My “RUN LEISURELY, WALK PURPOSELY” Principle was no longer feasible. At this excruciating moment, I seriously contemplated whether to continue or just stop.

THEN CAME THE HEAVY RAINS.

I was all alone along Aguinaldo Highway, frozen to the bone without anybody to talk to. I already let go of my running partner at Km 30 so that one of us could definitely finish the race. My tears, together with the pouring raindrops, persistently rolled down my cheeks.

Drenched, I questioned God: “Lord, why am I doing this to myself? Please remind me why.”

Gently, God whispered with compassion: “Nora, you are doing this for the families with Down Syndrome—that’s WHY.”

But I snapped back, bawling: “Help me overcome this. Send me an angel. I desperately need someone to be with me now.”

Then there was silence.

No angel came.

In between sobs I pleaded: “Could you at least stop the heavy rains Lord? Baka naman pwedeng rainshowers lang? Please?”

Truly, God answers our prayers in His time, not ours.

Before reaching Km 50, God finally stopped the heavy rains and sent me an angel—Inou Legaspi of Prince Multisports. He was a seasoned ultramarathoner who had time-tested strategy of finishing the race. Though I was struggling and ready to give up, I obediently followed his instructions.

At Km 57, my family arrived from Las Piñas and gave me the much-needed boost. Ascending to Palace in the Sky was extremely painful but with the whole family and Sister Lulu cheering for me, quitting was NO longer an option.

After almost 14 hours of grueling experience, we finally reached our destination! I was the last to finish but I was happy, thankful, and relieved.

To God be all the glory!

(Thanks for dropping by and sending your comments via Messenger. I appreciate them very much. You may also email me at ndelr62@gmail.com. Stay safe everyone!)

Thank you, DSAPI!

The Down Syndrome Assn. of the Phils. Inc. (DSAPI) is one of God’s precious gifts to the human race, particularly the Filipino household. Thank God for Tony Pasia and the other brave founders who were passionate enough to start this organization last Feb. 6,1992. Truly, they are God’s angels sent from heaven.

Words cannot fully capture how grateful I am for DSAPI. When I was at a loss and clueless how I was going to cope with having a child with Down Syndrome, DSAPI was my guiding light. It brought me out from the darkest and lowest pit of my life and carried me to freedom, joy, and happiness.

Thank God for DSAPI’s lifelong program for a child with Down Syndrome. I no longer have to wonder whether I was on the right track or not because I simply had to follow the corresponding programs and medical tasks at every stage of my daughter’s life. Everything was already planned in detail. I only needed to attend the seminars, the medical and dental consultations, the various social and nurturing activities—learn from them and put them into action.

If I did not find the time to attend the Early Intervention Program when my daughter was still a baby, I wouldn’t have believed that Eia could still make a difference and leave her mark in this world. Meeting Trish and Sam back then gave me the much-needed hope. Hope that my child could still talk, think on her own, do things by herself, and go to school. I wouldn’t have dared to set goals for Eia.

My daughter Eia was barely 5 years old when she dreamed of performing on stage and she did it starting at 8. She worked hard to be better by practicing everyday and in the course of her journey she was able to perform in schools, malls, hotels, function halls including Music Museum. People get teary-eyed when they see her sing with the Charismatic Choir during the Saturday Anticipated Mass and during the Healing Mass every 1st Saturday at Our Lady of Fatima Parish. At 18, she fulfilled her ultimate dream of having a Debut Concert at Dazo Hall, Philamlife Village.

I couldn’t imagine myself raising Eia without the support of DSAPI. DSAPI was, and still is, my life-saver. That is why whenever there’s an opportunity for me to raise funds for DSAPI, I do so. The donations I raise could never commensurate to what DSAPI has given me. DSAPI gave me back my life when I was about to give up, brought light to my path and guided me every step of the way so I won’t get lost.

Happy 30th Anniversary DSAPI! Wishing you many, many more years of helping families live life to the fullest with their children with Down Syndrome.

God bless us all!

(I apologize for my 2-month absence. Thanks for still dropping by my blog, inspite of my shortcoming. I cannot promise to write regularly but will always include you in my prayers, my dear readers. Stay safe everyone!)

Finding The Time to Exercise

My favorite son abhors exercise. Well, I’m not at all surprised because I used to hate it too. I was already 50 when I became a running addict. But I can’t help but smile whenever I see him travel to the farthest end of our house to use the comfort room there instead of the one right beside his bedroom. He also trots to the kitchen countless times a day. And I find it amusing that he has to go around his room to reach his bed coming from the door because of fixtures blocking his way to go straight to his bed (though I wanted to remind him that the shortest distance berween 2 points is a straight line, I refrain myself so he could add mileage to his steps).

Given the above scenario, I would estimate that my son walks 1 - 2 kms a day without even leaving the premises of our house. If a person who doesn’t want to exercise can walk at least 1 km a day without even trying, then there is no reason why a person who wants to exercise cannot find the time to do it.

For starters, try exercising 5 minutes in the morning and another 5 minutes at night. Slowly extend the time until you reach a total of 30 minutes a day. I have a friend who runs at 12 noon for 30 minutes then goes back to her office to change and eat her lunch. She is a mother of  3. She avoids running in the morning and after office hours to prioritize her children’s needs. Running during lunch break was perfect timing for her! A very dear friend walks at 4pm for nobody dares to wake her up before 8am or all hell will break loose!

When Eia was still receiving Occupational Therapy before, I run (rain or shine) while the therapist was attending to her but I made sure to be back on time to change my clothes and fetch her.

In one of our previous Agency meetings our Boss asked “What have you done by 8am today?” During that beautiful day, it so happened that I was already up at 4:00am to meet my client friend who just got off from her night shift work. The presentation went well and after she signed the application, I attended the 6:00am mass at Philamlife church. I ran 5 kms after that then joined the Tai-Chi group inside our Village’s basketball court until 8:00am.

Now that most of us work from home, it is a lot easier to find the time to exercise. Or is it really?

If you prefer to stay in dreamland rather than work out in the morning, you don’t have to force yourself to wake up early. You may exercise late in the afternoon. Or you can do it an hour after dinner. You may also do it anytime during the day. Like when you are just listening in a ZOOM meeting, turn off your camera. You can hula-hoop, jump rope, lift dumb bells, jog in place, exercise on a stability ball. My office table is not a table. It is one of my display cabinets when I was still renting a commercial space in StarMall.  I use it as my work table so I can stand while working. And while standing I do different forms of exercise. You may wonder if I’m a masochist but I can assure you that I’m quite the opposite. (I ran away from my EX remember?)

If you have the desire to exercise you will surely find the time for it. No doubt about that. You don’t need to be motivated to do it just as you don’t need to be motivated to brush your teeth 3X a day. Your schedule doesn’t include brushing your teeth but you just do it out of habit. Regard your exercise to be as simple as that. As simple as brushing your teeth. Doing it as if it’s the most natural thing to do. You may email me at ndelr62@gmail.com if you’re still struggling with your exercise time or if you have questions about what type of exercise to pursue.

(Thanks for dropping by my blog and messaging me your comments/reactions. I appreciate them very much! Stay safe everyone.)

Enjoy Your Conversations With God!

The Perpetual Adoration Chapel used to be my sanctuary. As of now however, I am just thankful that we can still be in communion with the Holy Eucharist anytime of the day via YouTube’s Perpetual (24/7) Eucharistic Adoration. Yes, it is virtual but the way the candle emits its flame, you can almost feel its warmth and imagine that you’re actually inside the chapel with the Lord.

There is “A Quarter of an Hour before The Blessed Sacrament” guide but I prefer to use my fingers as reference. Somebody told me before that when she prays the Rosary before the Blessed Scarament, she could feel Mama Mary praying with her. I did the same but added some enhancements. There are five decades of the Holy Rosary and we have 5 fingers on our hand. Before I start each decade, I offer intentions based from my version of the 5-Finger Guide. 

Starting from the smallest finger, this gives us the hint whom to pray for. Pray for people who are impoverished, physically weak, hospitalized, emotionally deranged, mentally ill, spiritually lost, unemployed, lonely and depressed. These are mostly intercessory prayers. Also include fervent prayers for those who went ahead of us  (like Our Lady of Fatima Parish Priest Msgr. Albert Venus whose funeral mass we celebrated this morning with Bishop Jesse Mercado. May his soul and the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.) 

Moving on, the ring finger signifies marriage. So before praying the 2nd Decade, offer prayers for your family members, relatives, including people closest to your heart though not related by blood.

The middle finger is the tallest. Pray for the highest ranking official in your country and for the rest of the world, the people leading your province/city/town/village/barangay. Pray for the Pope or the leader of your church, including your parish priest, the CEO or President of the corporation you work for, people leading organizations, associations, formal and informal groups. Then proceed with the 3rd Decade.

Next is your fourth finger, the pointer. Before praying the 4th Decade, pray for your children’s teachers and therapists and for those who teach, advise, cure, counsel, direct and set guidelines. Pray for all professionals that they practice their craft with the welfare of the common good in mind.

Lastly, your thumb points to yourself. After praying for everybody else, time to focus on your wants and desires. Talk to God without any inhibitions. Pour out everything to Him. You may pray spontaneously or follow the ACTS (Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, Supplications). Then pray the last Decade.

After talking continuously, allow yourself to be embraced by God. Keep still. Listen to what He wants to tell you. Open your heart to Him. Always have a notebook and pen beside you to take down notes on His messages. Enjoy your conversations with God!

(Thanks for dropping by my blog and messaging me your comments/reactions. I appreciate them very much! Stay safe everyone.)

My Reflection on Chinkee Tan’s Financial Advice

 AIA PHILIPPINES (formerly Philamlife) sponsored a free live webinar today with Chinkee Tan as guest speaker. It was a lively, down-to-earth interaction.

Chinkee Tan enumerated 6 ways how to spend wisely your Christmas Bonus (or extra money in general).

1. Pay off your debt. Even if you could only afford ₱500 a month, do it religiously and pay extra when you receive your Christmas Bonus to shorten the payment period. 

2. Build your Emergency Fund. He proposed 6 to 12 months worth of Emergency Fund. It would probably take years for an ordinary employee to achieve this but if you don’t start now, it will never happen. He made a striking comparison of how the poor and the rich’s time frame in financial planning differ: 1) The VERY POOR plan their needs on a daily basis (Isang kahig, isang tuka). This got me thinking: I also belong to the “no work, no pay category!” 2) The POOR (contractual workers who receive wages every Saturday) plan their budget weekly. 3) The MIDDLE CLASS plan monthly. These are the employed who receive their salary at the 15th and end of the month. 4) The RICH plan yearly. 5) The VERY RICH plan by the decade. Hmmm . . . interesting. 

3. Start your second source of income. Or if you have more talents and skills, build multiple sources of income. (Message me on this one. You can join AIA PH and/or Malayan as part-timers.) 

4. Get protection money. Chinkee Tan showed a very simple formula for computing how much Income Replacement Fund a breadwinner should have: Monthly Expenses X 12 months X 10. (There are actually 3 ways how to compute this but Chinkee Tan probably picked the most convenient method for the benefit of simplicity.) We were amused when he told us that he is not encouraging us to buy life insurance. It’s because he won’t be the beneficiary! The life insurance benefits won’t be for him but for the family that the breadwinner will be leaving behind. His family should continue on living comfortably as before even though he’s gone. We laughed when he asked “who among you here are breadwinners? And who among you here are breadeaters?”  He then narrated the story that they recently bought a piece of real property under his wife’s name. He insisted that the MRI (Mortgage Redemption Ins.) should cover him and not his wife. Precisely because if something happens to his wife, he could still continue paying for the mortgage. But if something happens to him, his wife would be needing the Mortgage Insurance to settle the dues.

5. Think like a wealthy person. When you have extra money, invest it. He suggested that one should invest first in Financial Education because the best combination for being scammed is being ignorant and greedy at the same time. Sadly, it turned out that some attendees were unfortunately scam victims in the past.

6. Help others. God blesses us to be a blessing to others! Christmas is the best time to share your blessings. Give to charity. This reminded me of Fr. Agustino Miguel Torres when he said “the more you give, the more you’re meant to be.”

There are 3 channels where your hard-earned money goes: needs, wants , savings/investments. Chinkee Tan stressed the need to have a positive mindset about investing. Change your mindset from having a consumer mentality to investment mentality.

I agree with Chinkee Tan that most Filipino parents urge their children to study hard inorder to land a good job when they graduate whereas Chinese-Filipino parents urge their children to study hard to continue the family business or start a new one he could call his own. 

But I cannot completely agree with him when he generalized that the way you were raised affect your mindset now. It could possibly be the opposite, at least for rebellious children like me. My father tried to brainwash me since I was small to study well, get employed in a big corporation, strive to be promoted so I could help our relatives work with me in the company. I chose a different path, much to his disappointment. It’s because I chased after my childhood dream, which Chinkee Tan also mentioned. That of being true to your calling and passion when exploring other sources of income.

Someone asked if he could borrow to pay off his debts and Chinkee Tan answered “you cannot solve a permanent problem with a temporary solution. You cannot solve a problem by creating another problem.” If I were to answer this question, I would say “yes, you may borrow at 1% interest and pay off your debt that is currently charging you 2% interest.” It is simple logic. Why would you pay 2% interest if you have an option to pay at 1%? By all means grab the opportunity and slash the interest you’re paying by 1%!

Other than these two, thumbs up with Chinkee Tan’s practical tips on how to be wealthy. He presented them in a manner that people would easily understand, humoring his audience non-stop. I just loved the way he emphasized “Money you did not spend is money you earned.” To learn more, go to chinkeetan.com.

(Thanks for dropping by my blog and messaging me your comments/reactions. I appreciate them very much! Stay safe everyone.)

Culture Shock! (Musings of a Certified PROMDI: Part 4)

When I was still in Marbel and read about the 2 seasons in the Philippines in our textbooks, I couldn’t comprehend how the months of June to early October were called the Rainy Season and the months from late October to May were dubbed as the Dry Season. It’s because in Marbel, we enjoyed the same weather all year long—mostly sunny with scattered rainshowers every now and then. I just realized what our textbook meant when I had to remove my socks and shoes to prevent them from getting wet in the flood just outside our dorm all the way across UE. I was shocked at first but later on, I had gotten used to the harsh reality that in Manila, floods were prevalent during the Rainy Season of June to early October. I remember one time when it was like Pacific Ocean from our dorm on the way to San Beda Church. We were only wearing shorts inside our long cover coats. A tourist bus suddenly passed behind us, creating big waves that we couldn’t avoid. The passenger tourists were having the time of their lives watching us with their cameras and videos. We couldn’t do anything but suffer the consequence. We attended the mass with our undies soaked in flood water! 

Among the “6 sexy chicks of Room 6” of Holy Spirit Dorm, I was the baby of my room mates, being the youngest and still in 3rd Yr High Sch. My caring “momsies” taught me to use shampoo for my hair when they saw me using ordinary bath soap. In Marbel, we used to soak Gugo bark in a basin of water, rub the fibers to form lather, then use the suds as shampoo. I know you will find it hard to relate but yes, I am that ancient hahahah . . . Funny but one time, Gio’s classmate asked him what his shampoo was, because he’s having problems with dandruff. Gio told him he’s using Gugo Shampoo. His classmate thought that he was using Gugo bark so he asked Gio where he got the Gugo. When Gio answered him that his mom buys it from Mercury Drugstore, his classmate was really surprised that Mercury sold Gugo barks. As their conversation continued, the 2 classmates realized that they were not talking about the same thing. Gio was laughing when he narrated the story to me. He then discovered that long time ago, I actually used Gugo bark and not the commercialized Gugo Shampoo that we use now. We were both amazed how his classmate knew about Gugo bark as shampoo.

To be continued . . .

(Thanks for dropping by my blog and messaging me your comments/reactions. I appreciate them very much! Stay safe everyone.)

Culture Shock! (Musings of a Certified PROMDI: Part 3)

Back in Marbel, I never missed watching movies every Sunday. I have been a movie addict for as long as I could remember. I was privileged to own a permanent pass (my face actually hahaha . . . ) to enter the theatre because we were close friends with the Yap family who owned 2 moviehouses in my hometown. In Manila however, I found it hard to adjust because not only that I had to pay for my ticket, but the fact that I was only watching 1 movie per screening disappointed me. Ever since I was small, I was watching 2 movies at a time for free! Movies were always shown back-to-back in Marbel except for the 1965 classic “The Sound of Music” which ran for almost 3 hours.

I never had the chance to enjoy parties in Marbel. When we were in 2nd year high school, I was excited to attend our acquaintance party in one of our teachers’ house. But when I just had my plate filled with food, I didn’t even get to have one bite because my loving parents were already outside the gate fetching me! I went home hungry and frustrated for I missed my only chance to dance with my Crush. In Manila, I got the shock of my life because parties start late dinner and end with early breakfast the following day! Tatay instructed our Dorm administrator that I was restricted to attend parties but Nanay secretly gave the permission that I could go heheheh . . .

We never had field trips in Marbel. Though I had the chance to go to different towns when competing in declamation contests, I never travelled with the whole class. So Field Trips were a whole new experience for me. I enjoyed exploring different places with my new classmates in UE High Sch. who surprisingly turned out cool after all. The coolest were my 2 PROMDI friends like me—Belen from Malvar, Batangas and Delia from Botolan, Zambales. These 2 amazing girls made my 3rd and 4th yr. High Sch. life truly memorable. How I wish I could see them again someday!

To be continued . . .

(Thanks for dropping by my blog and messaging me your comments/reactions. I appreciate them very much! Stay safe everyone.)