Funny but sometimes I catch myself just smiling on my own. Call it crazy but I love doing it every now and then. You may be asking why I am smiling by myself, well, it’s actually the result of having the trip down memory lane and seeing how good life has been to me, how God has been good to me.
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. We were not as privileged as the other kids. I came from a middle class family which experienced financial difficulties most of the time. My parents’ salaries were just right, sometimes not enough to make ends meet. I experienced giving up my savings and Christmas “earnings” from my godparents during those “dry” times. In the same manner that my parents tried to do some extra work by selling food or clothes in their offices, just as so we had some money to spend. But all through it all our family became stronger. During those times, I would only get to wear branded shirts, jeans or shoes only as a prize for being on the Top 3 of my class. If I landed on the 4th place or lower, sorry, no prize awaited me. Through those times I found myself dreaming of simple dreams. What dreams were those? Let me share some of them. I wanted that hopefully in the future I would learn how to drive, drive my own car, have my teeth fixed by wearing braces, tour to some tourist destinations in the Philippines, spend a weekend on a five-star hotel, eat in a hotel or in good restaurants, get to buy some branded stuff every now and then, travel outside the country, and have a grand wedding.
As I’ve written earlier, God has been good to me because all of those simple dreams became a reality. I didn’t get all of it in an instant, many had to wait for a couple of years. Regardless of the number of years I had to wait before it became a reality, it still became a reality. This is why I love going back and recalling the old times. It keeps me grounded. It gives me more reasons to be thankful. It gives me more reasons to enjoy life.
