The Writing Life
I. I wish I could write more about my life. Writing is living, too. I want to write about each day. How today, while preparing for super typhoon Karding (Noru), one of Half Moon’s (a feral cat we feed here in the province) kittens who is named Robin—his brother’s name is Batman—went missing. My mom and I suspect that Robin followed Half Moon to our neighbor’s pick-up truck and that he might have slept somewhere underneath the vehicle. We thought the truck would just be there, but our hearts went into panic when we heard it careen through the street. We think that the truck might have carried little Robin away with the driver not knowing... I honestly don’t know what to feel. Last night, I got to carry Robin in my hands. I saw him sprawled out on a scratching log just outside our door. This afternoon while it was drizzling, I tried looking outside of our home in the empty lot in front of us, afraid of what I might see (or not see). There’s a brewing storm over us, and a homeless kitten is lost somewhere. I don't know what to feel.
II. We secured what we can, trying trees with straws around steel tables and our gate, feeding the stray and feral cats earlier than usual, filling tumblers with water, cooking rice and food that won't spoil easily, and charging phones, laptops, and the pocket WiFi, in case of emergencies. For the whole day, the sky was overcast, and the rain poured softly. It was calm. We wait for the storm’s arrival later.
III. Starting from Cagayan to Quezon province, the Sierra Madre is perfectly snug on the eastern coast of the island of Luzon. When you look at the map from a bird’s eye view, you’d get goosebumps with how it’s conveniently placed there as a shield from typhoons and storm surges coming from the Pacific. Sierra Madre means ‘mother mountain range.’ Any child would sleep soundly with a loving and caring mother, and any loving and caring mother, during a storm, would be awake and ready to protect her child. When the child grows, I just pray they care for their mother, too.
Keep safe and be alert, dear family and friends. Please watch over your pets, too, and if ever strays seek shelter, I hope you could let them stay to pass the storm.
