New Challenges

For those who have known me for quite some time, they know how unhappy I was in my previous job. I have been with that company for 16 years, the last half of which had me looking for a better job somewhere else, for I had outlived my usefulness in that company.

Life indeed has its own sense of timing. Just when I was resigned to the idea and decided to go home to Cagayan de Oro for good, this new job all but landed on my lap, twisting things around yet again, making my head ache with trying to balance the pros and cons with my familial duties.

New job, new challenges. So great are the expectations from me that I had tummy ache the whole day on my first day; but so far, modesty aside, I have risen to every occasion, every challenge thrown my way. I’m still the headless chicken running around the office, trying to grasp the essential stuff that I need for me to do my job. Meetings go on the whole day; opinions must be given on the spot; what I say they take seriously (a tad too seriously, I think); sometimes all these overwhelm me. For the longest time, my opinions never take much weight or were just cast aside, my words were never valued, and my brain cells were all but dying. Suddenly, I find myself being thrust into the limelight. I am the new kid on the block, the wonder kid. I am expected to troubleshoot and fine tune all the stuff that comes my way. Oh, my. What a responsibility!

The other day, we had to make a presentation to a group of potential investors, I have been with the company for less than a week, and yet they trust me to be able to be one of the people to convince this big entity to come and invest in us! Whoa! So much is expected of me that I sometimes fear that I might just trip, stumble, and fall flat on my face. After being on the “freezer” for so long, I can’t help but doubt myself sometimes.

Things get clearer each day, but there are still gaps (like today) when I do not know what to do, when I do not have a clue of what is expected of me. Well, all will work out in due time, that much I am sure.

Happy Birthday!

Here we are, celebrating our parents' birthdays. Both Mama and Papa celebrate their birthdays following the lunar calendar, so it changes every year. This year, their birthdays fell on October 15th and 24th.

Last weekend, Olive and I flew home to celebrate their birthdays. After 40 years of our parents always celebrating our birthdays for us, we felt it is time for us to celebrate their birthdays for them.

Weeks (actually, only 2 weeks) of preparation finally paid off. A lot of details were neglected but thankfully, we were able to hurdle them at the last minute. It was 2 weeks of late nights for us, staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning.

On the day of the party, it was all worth it. Papa and Mama were very happy, you can see it in their faces. The guests were impressed with the food. We had an very short program, which my cousin said was ok because it did not bore the guests out of their wits.

Seeing my parents happy on their birthday really made the day for us. It made me realize how lucky we are. Although we have our share of bickerings and misunderstandings, our love for each other more than made up for these. We are truly blessed.