only for a little while @justastopover - Tumblr Blog

Sometimes, the easiest decisions are the ones you don’t want to make. Often, the optimal choice stares right at us but we refuse to meet its eyes. Such is the irony that is letting go. You’d think it’s easy to choose to let go of something that doesn’t serve you anymore. Yet you forget the beauty of comfort, of waking up to each morning to a pain so familiar you don’t know what to make of the sunrise without it anymore. You forget that cutting things off bluntly leaves you with a half that wouldn’t really make sense on its own. But some days, letting go is a 3AM choice that you cry about again at noon when lunch is served the way it’s always been done. It’s in the post-credits of a really good movie. It’s in the heartbreak you feel after closing a book on its last page. When you find the courage to make that choice, hold on. Sometimes, it can only happen once. Over and out. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq3An1Bv2WSsOzh65FONTYlkqG4hbMV4cds93Q0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

There is nothing worth opening a new year with more than gratitude. Not because we made it through the last year, but because we keep making it through every day. We ought to be thankful for something as rudimentary as getting to wake up to a new day and, equally, for magnanimous gifts of time and love and warmth. So let’s welcome 2023 with a pause to notice everything that we take for granted in life and then with a salute to the heavens because we have them still. To life-changing moments and blessings that we can be thankful for! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm3EOWFJc3H_hh6FE9sqJ10oYw16f01psN19f80/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

“Mysterious thing, time. Powerful and, when meddled with, dangerous.” https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm1kaPhv5kxVX7F9iqfqtWPRJMnrO4DISar7hk0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Home. Every year, for Christmas, we all want to be home. After all the months we have been trying to get through with life, in the final stretch of the year, we just want to be back home. We want to be where there is unconditional ease, love, and calm. We want to go back to where there are bright lights and cozy nooks. We want to be with the people we can sing of wonder, faith, and joy with. It’s remarkable how the season brings out the one thing we have in common with anyone in the world—the desire to belong. To someone, somewhere, somehow. And we do. In all the ways that matter, we belong. We may be with our own family or with just some of them. We may be with friends or people we work with. We may be all alone. But we belong. To the world, to life, to God. We belong in the warmest way only Christmas can remind us—within our hearts, we are always home. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cmmas0PhMNx512OYbeqs7MTXiOm1CEjhP-GkIE0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

A right pop of colour anywhere she is, one would find it hard to ignore her. Though her frame may be small, her stance is taller than the sturdiest of pines. And her strength can move mountains. . Growing up with my mom is alternately tedious and wild. But now that I’ve been away for quite some time, I wish I can have more of that with her. So for her birthday, I wish all of us many more years together. Happiest birthday, Mama! I hope we make good on the travel plans next year 🤍 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl_WgwaPaAI-o5TYzFH9p-HGioZe4AWTDik-MA0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Through you, life has proven time and again that nothing can bring a tenacious soul down. Your determination to always find the best in any situation sets you apart. Keep on aspiring to be better because the heavens do reward the brave. Happiest birthday to my only brother! 🤍 Waiting for your good news so you can make us libre all the way here 😅 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cltgy1fvuAkjhbdq0ZAuGtm6tsxYRLzD9BqVNA0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

They say that the first-born daughter is the female version of her father. I say it’s true, 80% of the time. . We are alike in more ways than we care to admit. We both like books and films and simple days at home. We both love country, alt rock, and folk especially of the late 80s. And we both take on life with such obvious courage of silent fighters. . For this, and so much more that goes beyond what I could write about, I am thankful. Happy birthday, Papa! I hope life continues to be kind to us and keep giving us years together. https://www.instagram.com/p/CfEHzRqBa75ZW4iPzKac7D5hDi4mOjR3qBQmaY0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Happy 13th to our Kuya! The very kid that changed our lives and brought more happiness into it. I am the proudest tita to have you, Kheeno. Always. https://www.instagram.com/p/CeGmDWtBYrsndIm6-EGWSOlRXe2q4qY36HW0240/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Happy 8th, Joaquin! Sana we made you happy today, even from 4,000 miles away. Miss ka na ni Iyo! 💕 https://www.instagram.com/p/CdYuFO0P0Wp9hTMDxqCI4-HpFey2pNmrOrop6M0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Years and years of making greetings for my mom yet I still try to find what else is there to say to and about her. To everyone who knows her, it’s just obvious. She’s a lioness, a right force to be reckoned with, a real source of strength. . To me, she’s home. And I can never tell you just how many times before today have I wished to be back home. . What I can tell though is that it makes an immense difference to be comforted with the thought that, even if everything blows up or breaks down, even if you fall so hard, even if the bad seems to always outweigh the good, there is a home waiting for you. . If you have or have had that at least once in your life, in whatever form, then you have something to keep thanking the heavens for. . I know I do. . Happy Mama’s to my Mama! Thank you for making me grateful everyday. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdS8S6HsIYS8tTUNJV8ra3jthdQLQBdLsJroIc0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day.

And today is just one of many that I have longed to be where my mom is. I can never tell you how many times I have wished to go home to my parents since my life became a mess during the pandemic.

I still think the peak moment of my insanity will be the day I just pack up and take the next flight home. All consequences be damned.

Today, for the first time in 15 years, I went out to vote. . Voting was easy. Having to live with the choice you made, isn’t. But the need for hope was so potent, so glaringly lacking, and so exceedingly necessary. It was worth more than an hour’s commute to the Philippine Consulate’s office and another hour waiting for my turn to cast my vote. It was worth standing in line with a strikingly loud opposition. It was worth the smallest of inconveniences. It was worth every consequence. . I voted for hope and for that, my ballot was pink. And I think I’ll find living with this choice peachy enough. . I hope you make yours just as worthy. . . Photo not mine. (at Philippine Consulate General in Dubai) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcawcJPMlDt8J9nJWEBxNIcwy_7Rj5UZBKq5B80/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

justastopover

It’s getting more and more difficult to explain each day. I think I have fallen into this routine. Wake up, work, sleep. There is nothing more.

I miss having friends to meet with at the end of the day. I miss having to rush to catch the last bus home. I miss having someone from home text and ask me where I am solely because you haven’t been back at the time you usually are.

I miss having a family. I miss meals cooked because everyone wants to eat together and not so each one would compliment the dish. I miss having to wait up for everyone to be seated before starting. I miss actually being a valuable part of a group—not someone people remember as an afterthought or someone who’s either a convenience or a discomfort depending on the situation.

I miss life. A simple one where there is meaning to whatever it is you do even if you have a job that you tremendously hate. I miss being alone and not feeling so lonely.

Did you know there is a difference between drowning because you chose to swim in a place where no one else goes and drowning because people are not exactly aware you need help?

justastopover

341 days ago and yet I seem to have fallen deeper into despair. I wanna get out but I’m tired of finding my way. I wanna save myself but I don’t know where to start because I have each arm occupied by something and someone else. I wanna scream but there aren’t even any ears around to hear me.

I miss living.

The one and only time I braved the Expo crowd for a show. Didn’t think I would see such an audience since 2020 blew up. Also, kinda surreal how yours was the last live performance I saw before the pandemic and the first one I went to now (still can’t say “after”). . PNE could never disappoint, I guess. Cheers to more unrestricted shows with no setlist! (at Expo 2020 Dubai) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbSY6SfhKOmdwZ4gFcvdborErEsxMSIh277Umg0/?utm_medium=tumblr

“And in the end, everything we have makes it worth the fight.” . Meant to post like a month-end update yesterday but realised that my photos were only a mix of database screenshots, passport-sized photos of other people, and food we told our mom about. Damn January went by in a flurry of pure hustle. . On the bright side, I tested negative for COVID twice, cooked a dish for the first time and it turned out tastier than expected, and overall just got by with only small scratches here and there. . Literally not expecting more from this month. But since we’re starting off with the Lunar New Year, maybe things will be a tad better. Little wins. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZa_aeSsJI5-4g_RcNDBXGK7QsJuHnaKJ-fbhE0/?utm_medium=tumblr

at Al Barsha First https://www.instagram.com/p/CYKRm8Vhx8O4PgjbVohV1bs3QWDLwSgZjoACk80/?utm_medium=tumblr

“The best Christmas gift is to realise how much you already have.” . I guess it’s in this year that we have had the chance to actually and finally see how glaringly different Christmas can be for everyone. On one side, we have Instagram posts of lavish table spreads, adorable newborns, and Santa wishes coming thru. On the other side, we have tables with one or two seats unoccupied for the first time in ages, people returning from a long day’s work to a room sans any sign of the festivities, and (in most current cases back in my home country) families still reeling from the effects of a hard-hitting calamity. . More than a year on since the pandemic has started, we’ve got to admit that it’s now either a forced merriment or just a weary nod to the occasion—as if we want the joy of the season but are already too tired to celebrate so. . And so, maybe, this year we just hold on to the gratitude of still having something. Lungs properly breathing, someone to say goodnight to, pets to feed, a sunrise to wait for the next day. We thank the heavens we have the basics of a life to live for. After all, isn’t Christmas as simple as it is seen from a child’s eyes? Warm light, laughter, and love. . Happy Christmas, world. May the child in us keep the wonder of the season alive. https://www.instagram.com/p/CX5j_XeBb2wmPeINf7cX9MtXDjLvDDZYiROgn80/?utm_medium=tumblr

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