Splurge. Yes, that’s the word to aptly describe how I enjoy travels and vacation. It’s not about spending luxuriously and aimlessly watch your hard-earned money bid your wallet sayonara. It’s not about becoming indifferent to other people’s needs and then lavish yourself with pleasure. It’s about investing on what’s really essential in life – relationships. It’s about those moments you’ll have the chance to give yourself that needed sojourn, to breathe, to unwind, to refresh your soul, and to renew your spirit, thus contributing to the overall positive energy field of this world (okay, I’m going overboard with this Deepak talk). It’s about that priceless laughter, that shared sumptuous meal, that precious sleep, that thrilling ride, that warm feeling of just being together and enjoying idle times. Abandoned carefreeness.
For the past months this blog has been serene, we were chasing dreams, travelling to places we only see in postcards and favourite noontime show. It’s been totally overwhelming and until now I still pause and wonder how we’ve pulled things through and made the journeys happen. For all these, I stand in awe once more for the Lord’s generosity and I am reassured over and over that He can be as generous as we want Him to be if we just learn to align our hearts with His will and surely outpouring of blessings follows in small and big packages.
So now, let me start a photo essay here before dementia catches up on me and I am going to title this “The Journey of Blessings.”
September 2009 - CWC in Camsur and finally seeing Mayon in Bicol on my birthday was a long-time wish come true. The great fun and team work we had at the water park will remain with me and gladly reminisce until my rocking chair days. How we helped push each others’ butts to reach a goal and laugh our hearts out in the process, that will always put a huge smile on my face. The carefree laughing to tears at the huge trampoline, that will always remind me of how life is just like, a jumpy, up and down cycle. The Amazing Race feeling of going against time going to Tabaco just to view Mayon, that will always remind me my knees can still do the running. Overall, it felt great to relive my youth in this fun-filled place even though we didn’t gather enough guts to try the wakeboarding, trampoline did compensate enough.
October 2009 – “Some people tell it like you just finally find "the one." And some people say it's just work, you pick someone and they pick you and with a little work and a little luck, it works out. Some people say, "I wasn't ready until now, I had to grow," and some people say, "I was waiting for you my whole life." Romantic love contains within it the idea of knowing, and thus, for some of us, requires a leap of faith. I think you change, and keep changing, all the time. And you find "the one," it must be that you've changed in some way that has made that possible. You've found someone with whom that particular part of you emerges, the part of you that can imagine one person, forever."
It’s been one remarkable year. And I couldn’t think of any other place but Dakak to celebrate that. We'll never know how long we'd stay together, but as long as we are, we'll keep on going and growing and traveling and learning and living this life joyously together. For the rest of our days, I vow to be by your side - a balm for every ache, a push for every weakness, a shadow of light for every darkness, steadfast in love.
November 2009 - O hail Cebu for the best lechon, for the wild edge coaster ride, and for the resort hopping like no other! No other way to spend your birthday but be like a balikbayan tourist seeing nature and tourist spots at its best and at the end of the day lie on orthopedic beds that lure you to sleep, sleep and sleep some more. Except for the taxi hassles, the Sutokil overpricing, and scourging heat of the sun, I will always remember Cebu as the place I learned not to book an early flight back for you not to have a tantrum of not wanting to go home and still want to sleep and watch cable and swim and just lay around.
It's been a heck of a journey and we still have a lot to explore. With you, impossible is not an option. Let's keep it rolling ;-)
"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." -G.K. Chesterton
My random travel notes...
I am a traveler. I like being at home too, but traveling really does something to me. The entire concept of it changes something in me. But traveling with someone you love makes the whole process easier, always.
If given a choice, I would want to be in a travel phase of our lives all the time. Ironically, in traveling terms, I am glad we are both growing comfortable with becoming unsettled. :)
I think it pays us good to get out of our usual selves every once in a while -- to open up ourselves and walk right in a different world to see it with a new pair of eyes. The pleasure we get from transporting ourselves to a different place is incomparable.
Traveling vastly reminds me so much of how small a being I am compared to the amazing creation of our Maker. History is everywhere, in every corner of the world that we choose to turn to.
Jesus was once a traveler himself. But he traveled far and traveled deep -- pushing everyone to places beyond our comfort zones, a place where we can explore and confront our spirits.
The world can be so vast sometimes that all of us can get lost easily without someone having to find us. I am so glad we found each other, even if you weren't even probably looking then. :)
It feels so good to be sometimes out of the loop in another place. To feel a bit bemused with a language we are not familiar with. To find a little bit more of ourselves, to know each other and ourselves deeply. I don't know if you are even aware of it. But I feel our souls touch and reconnect each time we travel.
If there's one thought that I am most grateful about each time we travel together is this: We already know how to travel light. We are free of encumbrance to begin traveling anytime. That goes the same with the life we are trying to live everyday together now.
I am privileged enough to always take that seat beside you. Whether I would sleep through the whole trip or not. ;)
