And life begins...

40 years.

14,600 days.

350,400 hours.

21024000 minutes.

Yes, I’ve made mistakes.  Life didn't come with instructions.

But that was then. This is now.

If I ever make the same mistake/s, wala na akong excuse.

A fool at 40 is a fool forever.

 

Thank you, Lirio, for reminding me that those mistakes, lessons, experiences have made me the person that I am now. I think that’s the whole point of the statement. You get up, you move on, and you make sure that you come out of it alive and better.

 

Thank you, Jopen, for reminding me to “Never reject anybody in your life, because good people give us happiness & bad people give us experience. Both are essential in life.” Perhaps, it’s ok to forget the bad people, but not the lessons.

 

Thank you, Lord, for everything. Thank you for my husband and my children. Thank you for our simple but happy life. Thank you for my family, relatives, and friends, for my work, for our health, and for all the blessings. Even though I don’t deserve all Your love and goodness. Thank you for always being there for us, for guiding us, and for being a forgiving Father. Huwag po sana Kayong magsawa. I am writing this now so I can concentrate on enjoying my birthday tomorrow!

 

It’s also my first birthday without my father.

 

Last year, he texted me: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANAK. LOVE PAPA AND MAMA”

 

Always, after mass, I would call him and Mama and thank them.  Little did I know that it would be his last birthday text for me.

 

I miss him so much but his loss has made our family closer, and my mom stronger. I was not a perfect daughter, nor he a perfect father, but as I’ve said, for the most part of his life, he loved us and lived his life well. That is the papa whom I choose to remember, whom I shall not forget. And I will always be his good girl.

 

40 is a great number and my life begins…NOW.