Category — Family Support

As the year comes to a close, I am starting to feel sentimental and mushy. I guess my forthcoming wedding is also getting in my system. Suddenly, I think about my family, my relationship with them and the love they have so unconditionally given me through the years.

Right now, all I want is to treasure the moments I’ve had with them and keep the happy memories in my heart. I know I don’t come from a perfect family (who does, anyway?) but the family I have is something I wouldn’t trade for any other. The family I have is the best in the sense that they complete me and inspire me to be a better person every single day.

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My sister O suffered from flu for three days starting Sunday last week. She got well yesterday and I’m just so glad to hear about it. I can be a worry freak, you know, especially when it comes to the health of my loved ones. You can say I take any kind of sickness seriously.

When O told me about her headache last week, I asked her to take some medicine immediately. When I got home that same day, I saw her lying in bed nursing a fever that would eventually develop into flu. I tried not to panic and took care of her the entire night and the following day.

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Another killer typhoon has recently hit the Philippines. Typhoon Sendong (international name Washi) attacked Northern Philippines specifically Cagayan de Oro City last Saturday claiming hundreds of lives and destroying several millions worth of properties. Today, thousands of families in that place are suffering from the aftermath of the typhoon (i.e. continuous flood, food and water shortage, physical losses, emotional pain, etc.).

I feel for my fellow countrymen at this turbulent time in their lives. It’s sad that Christmas is just around the corner and yet, they can no longer celebrate as much as they want because of the tragedy that befell them. I can only hope and pray that the much-needed help from the national government and all those charitable organizations reach them fast. I am certain, though, that God will provide for all their needs. All they need to do is to call on Him and keep their faith as strong as ever.

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This coming Christmas will be our second time to celebrate Jesus’s birthday together as a family. That is, if you start counting at 2010 as our first. Technically, that’s true. I’m happy it’s gonna be like this in the years ahead!

Would you believe that for nine years my family and I had lived apart? I was in Manila then getting college education while they were in a faraway province called Negros Oriental. One by one, I was able to get them back here in Manila, for us to live together again (yes, that’s the breadwinner in me speaking). It’s a long story, so I’ll just keep it as short as that.

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Last Sunday, we were finally able to get a new desktop for our home. We sourced everything from Gilmore, a popular IT hub here in Manila. We got the package for P20,880. The PC was assembled right before our eyes, carrying the following specifications: Asus motherboard, Core I3 2G processor, 320 GB hard disk, 2GB memory, output device with dvd/cd writer, 18.5″ LED TV monitor, speaker set, black keyboard, mouse and AVR.

the fiancee installing OS and MS Office to our new desktop

Specs wise, I think we got a great deal. We were actually accompanied by the fiancee (an IT expert) as we went from one store to another checking out and comparing prices. In the end, we settled for the one from PC City because they had all that we wanted for our desktop.

my brother after assembling the computer table

the computer table that yours truly bought

the fiancee’s sister tinkering with our new PC

My teacher brother is paying for the new PC thru credit card installment and I can’t be more grateful to him for his generosity. I also admire him for his willingness to take the big responsibility of paying for the device. After all, it is never easy to allot a big part of your salary for debt-servicing. I’m glad to have sent to college a responsible brother like him. Now, all we need is internet subscription to make things more complete. Well see in the coming days…

My brother D, one of the more than 33,000 hopefuls that took the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) last April 3, 2011, is one lucky guy. He passed the LET! Wohooo! Everybody in our family was rejoicing upon hearing the news last Friday. This is a dream come true for my brother and we all prayed for it. God is really good.

my brother is now a licensed teacher!

Now, my brother is a full-pledged teacher, and licensed at that. He’s very thankful and optimistic about this positive development in his teaching career. He’s teaching this June at a private school in Divisoria and he’s very excited already. He said he feels more confident now that he’s a LET passer and that he plans to pursue higher studies, possibly an MA degree. He also said that he wants to transfer to a public school in the future. I said he should do it one step at a time. No need to hurry things up. I advised him to earn experience in a private school first before transferring to a public one. This way, he’ll be able to experience both worlds and find out what works best for him.

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My sister J, who shifted from Accountancy, is now a Banking and Finance student. She’s just told me all about it thru text. I’m happy she was able to get a slot early. She said she’s very optimistic about her new course. She’ll be a sophomore come enrollment time in June.

Speaking of enrollment, how do you save up for tuition fees? Do you pay in full or installment? Personally, I think it’s always best to save up money for tuition fees in advance. This has proven to be a wise move for me as I’m the one who handles the family’s finances. I find it easy to do. I just allot a particular amount to “Education” in my budget monitoring sheet. Slowly but surely, the money accumulates and before I know it, I have already generated the amount needed for the tuition fees of my two siblings who are both in college.

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Shifting to a different course is quite hard. It means a lot of things for the shiftee: an entirely new curriculum, a new set of classmates, a new class schedule, change in study habits, physical and psychological adjustments, etc. While shifting to a different course can be prevented, sometimes you are left with no other choice. The trick is to choose the course according to what you want to pursue best and have your documents processed ahead of time so you get a sure slot.

My sister J who’s studying in a state university here in Manila learned yesterday that she had to shift to a different course because she failed to pass the qualifying exams. Apparently, Accountancy (her course) has a quota to live up to its competitive standards. Qualifying exams are then given to the students at the end of each academic year to determine who will make it to the quota.

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My sister J started having fever last night. I had her take a paracetamol to relieve her head ache. She didn’t have body pains so I thought it was just an ordinary fever. Before leaving for work this morning, I told her to rest and get enough sleep so her immune system gets stronger and fight off the infection more easily. I also advised her to drink plenty of water to help regulate her body temperature.

Caring for the sick in the family is one job I love doing, only when I have the time for it. You know the feeling when your parents are away and you’re the oldest adult around which means you’re in charge of caring for the sick family member? It can be worrisome. What if the fever gets worse? What if that family member doesn’t recover soon enough to attend to the more important things in her life? In the case of my sister, I worry about her studies as she’s currently taking summer classes. She even has exam on Friday and I think she hasn’t started reviewing yet.

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My brother D and I are close. That, despite the fact we come from the opposite sexes and have a six-year old gap. We share secrets and get emotional at the mere mention of a delicate topic that usually involves our family. You can say we love each other to pieces and we’ll do everything for each other.

Today is D’s first day at work. I am just as excited about it as he is. If I’m not mistaken, he’s going to sign his two-year work contract today as a computer teacher in a private school somewhere in Divisoria. I’m excited about how he’d adapt to his new workplace, to a new set of co-workers and to an entirely different type of work than what he’s had in the past. I hope he deals with all of them with an open mind, a positive attitude and confidence.

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