Dreaming of when it's over

Kai and Satchi

"What will this bleak time be called when it's all over?" ~ Tweet from Pamela Colloff

I'm afraid my grandchild Kai has recently developed some kind of insomnia. Every night it takes her later and later to fall asleep, and it's usually after midnight. No, she doesn't take an afternoon siesta. I'm beginning to worry that she's suffering from some anxiety that makes nodding off difficult for her.

She's active the whole day--playing with the dog Satchi, feeding her, giving her vitamin, chatting on FB Messenger with her cousin Machiko Susi in Antipolo, playing pretend with her miniature figurines and dolls, an hour of Netflix cartoons. You'd think that's already a full day for a child.

Yesterday she carefully wrote on two postcards and told her pen pals about how bored she was. And I quote: " Extreeeeeemely bored! Satchi is bored too waiting for me to go outside and play. Sometimes I am able to see a very pretty butterfly. Oh! And to go to parties!"

Love 'em, love her

"Be thankful for those individuals that help you keep your head on straight and your smile in place. Love them like there's no tomorrow." - a tweet from Terry Alex who believes that "positivity is contagious. Compliments are priceless. Encouragement and praise should be endless.Faith brings them all together."

During her last visit to the thunders of Pasig (code for tanda), The Button plucked the santan flowers off the hedge planted by her great grandfather in the 1970s in a kind of counting game. There are new flowers to greet the Year of the Blue Wooden Horse. My smile is in place again. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Saturday morning and thinking of another's journey

"Don't judge my path if you haven't walked my journey." - found quote in Twitter today

I need to apply this more when I read or listen to other people's stories, even if I'm exasperated at their choices, at their re-telling of their lives or their versions of events, their recounting of what had gone before. My partner likes to say these reflect how certain persons were raised. Or perhaps the set of values they were raised by--probably parents or elders who were always in awe of those who had more money, even if the means by which these people enriched themselves are questionable. (I hate those types, by the way.) I always like to ask, "What is the true measure of the person? Is it after taxes are deducted?"

It's beginning to dawn on me, while reviewing my Psychology 101 and swimming through self-help, self-knowledge books, that my own observations and experiences, such as they all are, will eventually lead to the time when I can gaze at an Other through uncolored, unfiltered eyes. Look, accept, even love. Do I have to become blind to do that? Hope not!

Depending on her mood for the day, The Button either faces or turns away from the camera. She has a long way to go on her life's path. Meanwhile, enjoy the weekend, Kai! Photo by Babeth the Booboo