My 2012 in Review

Happy New Year everyone!

I’m writing this during the first few hours of year 2013. Okay, I originally decided to finish this post on the last hours of last year’s but I wasn’t able to beat the deadline. But isn’t it just a bit awesome that I started writing this post last year, bagong taon ko na natapos? Ahahaha!

And since new years are always associated with lists, this particular post will also be flooded with lists.

I started the year 2012 with a post about what I should accomplish for that particular year. It wasn’t a resolution list, more like a bucket list which contains the following entries:

1. Save extra money for Fiesta mass sponsorship on April

2. Save specific amount of money every month to have a "fatter" bank account

3. Submit for Palanca by March

4. Have my passport stamped with Germany visa for vacation on May

5. Have a jump shot in the Great Wall

6. Have a family member take a vacation here by December

7. Give pamahaw and buy  bouquet for Flores :)

8. Fall in love, this time with no inhibitions....(So help me God! )

9. Check WEST post availability

2012 is over and what exactly did I accomplish from this year’s bucket list?

NOTHING.

Not even a single entry from this list was materialized.

I plotted what my year was supposed to be like, but nothing came out exactly as planned. I wasn’t able to sponsor our Fiesta mass. Instead, I was given the grace to sponsor the mass for the culmination of the Flores de Mayo which was so meaningful to me because of my devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I wasn’t able to push through with the processing of my Schengen visa for a sponsored visit in Germany but unexpectedly, I was able to have my passport stamped with Korean visa and God showered me with such blessings that I was able to pay all the travel expenses by myself. I don’t have a jump shot in the Great Wall but I have a photo hugging the Gyeongbukgong Palace gates. I didn’t submit for Palanca but I tried writing again for Panay news. I wasn’t able to bring a family member to have a vacation here in Thailand but I was able to go home to spend my summer holidays.  There wasn’t an availability in West but I’m not giving up on it just yet. My back account surely isn’t fatter (Korea expenses, hello? Ahahaha!) but I have a bundle of stories and anecdotes to tell. I didn’t fall in love this year but I used the time to let my heart heal and I think if an opportunity comes, this heart’s ready (Ayeeeeee!).

You see, 2012 just like the previous years, was God’s way of constantly reminding me that no matter how I plan my life, His plans are bigger than mine.

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The year 2012 was filled with trying new adventures, meeting new people, going to new places, eating unfamiliar foods, and learning new lessons. But it was also a time to love my constants all the more---comfortable routines, family, old friends, all-time favorite food, and home. So here’s my compacted 2012 in no particular order or pattern. I’ve already long accepted that well arranged and laid out patterns are not for me, my mind and my heart are not just designed for it. And with God’s plans in my life, I think He agrees that I just keep this untamed and cluttered me just as it is. 

Note: Be prepared, for the screen will be flooded by my dorky face again! Ahahaha! 

(1)Celebrated my 24th birthday---first time away from home. (2) Experienced a super hot summer with temperature reaching to 40 degrees. Hot summer it was, indeed! (3) Songkran---the Thai way of celebrating new year. (4) Yay!  Bound for home. (5) Omurice—the result of going gaga over a Korean drama. (6) Grassboarding on the steepy hills of Meamoh. (7) Trained a student for an ASEAN oratorical contest. We got a bronze medal while competing with the schools in the northern region of Thailand! (8)Wai Kru---it’s a customary Thai tradition of paying respect to the teachers. (9) Getting lost in Bangkok, alone. (10) Guiding the students in scouting. I was never even an active girl scout in ‘pinas! (11) Experienced the hospitability of Ahne’s family while I was in Manila. (12) Food, and more foods! (13) The ultimate Korea adventure! (14) Second Loi Krathong in Thailand.

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If there would be thoughts that would remain with me when I think of the year 2012, it wouldn’t be the adventures or a particular event but the lessons that I’ve learned from all of these.

Sure, this was a year when we lost Papa Adring and the pain of the loss was magnified because I was away and I couldn’t physically comfort my family and be comforted in return. This was also a year when I greatly questioned my capacity and influence as a teacher when one of my students literally pushed me when I gave him a piece of my mind and he wasn’t able to understand because of the language barrier. This was a year when an unexpected flashflood hit my city just right after Christmas. I can go on and on in mentioning all the unfortunate and painful events that happened this year but as I said earlier, the universe works in equilibrium. When life offers you some blows, it would also offer you a balm to heal your wearied spirit.

So for the last list in my year-end review, here are the BIG LESSONS of 2012:

1. You couldn’t prepare your heart for the great pain of death and loss. But there’s nothing that a prayer couldn’t heal.

2. Miracles can happen. Even if they last for several hours, they are still counted as miracles. Believe.

3. There’s a strong radar among family and old friends. They could sense the state of your heart and mind despite the distance.

4. It’s not the place that you go back home into. It’s the people in it.

5. Moving on doesn’t mean being indifferent. It’s the point when you can just laugh about everything that happened and really wish a particular person a well-lived life.

6. There’s a special beauty in silence that can heal almost everything.

7. When everything doesn’t fall into its rightful place, sleep and good food are just the perfect solution.

8. Sometimes, all you just need is several seconds of embarrassing but deep-rooted courage to put people and things in their rightful places.

9. Always take the high road no matter what.

10. Being a teacher sometimes means knowing when to give up a particular student to somebody who can help them more.

11. Losing a lot of important people and things in life makes you more courageous in letting go of some superficial stuff that you once thought as important. Like, losing a whole bookshelf of my years’ worth of book collection to typhoon Quinta isn’t as heartbreaking as I once imagined it would be.

12. Allow God to surprise you in the middle of your well-planned life.

13. A cluttered life isn’t a sign of negligence. Sometimes, it means that there are more important things to do and to learn than spending the time to have it systematically arranged.

14. Start travelling while you are young.

15. Always open your heart to the possibility of love, no matter what.

The Mayans were  definitely wrong, we did survive 2012 after all.

However, it wasn’t transcending the predicted holocaust on the  21^st of December that was our greatest feat and triumph for this year. It was our day to day struggle and commitment to live a quiet but dignified life while opening our hearts to everything that life had prepared for all the 365 days of this year.

Thank you 2012! :)