My 13 Thoughts on Your 13th Birthday This August 13

13. I've been a mom for 13 years now. (Who would've thought i'd get this far?)

12. This is a new chapter for you and me. Everybody says the teenage years are the most challenging for parents but the most memorable for their children. I hope we could get through this together and you arrive at your adulthood and my senior life both of us unscathed. (So help us God.)

11. I'd appreciate it if we could stay friends throughout. You did promise me when you were 4 years old that you wouldn't keep secrets from me. So let's take it from there, shall we? It's best to tell your ol' mom your joys, sorrows, triumphs, problems and I promise to be the best listener. Ever.

10. Your sister is your friend as well. I hope and pray that you nurture your relationship with her. Make her feel that she's protected and loved by her older brother. Remember that your future girlfriends will take particular note of how you treat your mother and sister.

9. Though your Dad is not physically present, know that he loves you very much. And you know you can always ask him for guidance and advice on things you cannot ask me. ('Cause he is still the best Dad in the world.)

8. Learning in school is the most important thing to do during your teenage years. It sets the foundation of how you will turn out in your adult life. You wanna be successful yeah? Study hard. It will all be worth it when the time comes and you will be thankful.

7. Independence is something you have started wanting for the past year. The more you will want it in the next years. I'm giving it to you. I give it to you and I trust that you will make sound, reasonable and  balanced decisions. I will always be here to give you advice and guidance. (Just put down your phone and talk to me.)

6. What do I always tell you? Your character is what you do when no one else sees you. Even when no one sees you, always do what is right. And kind. Pray wherever and whenever. There's no limit.

5. Your success in life will be all your doing. No one else's. You define your future. And even your present. (I mean, your now, your present. Not gift. I know what you're thinking.)

4. Don't worry about your height. You'll grow much taller than you already are. Believe me. (I know.)

3. Hugs and kisses and "I love yous' should never EVER run out. You hear me? It reassures me that I'm doing good as your mother.

2. All my promises, I will fulfill them. Not always immediately, but rest assured that I'm trying everything to keep them. I hope you fulfill yours too. 

1. Enjoy your teenage years, my son. How you will live your life at 31 will depend on how you will live your life at 13 onwards.

"There's this boy who stole my heart.

He calls me Mom."

alice

it's an ongoing debate inside my head if i wanna know what holds for me in the future or not.  sometimes i wanna.  sometimes i don't wanna.  

which led me to think of that skill of alice cullen's.  how she deals with it, knowing what will happen next.  it must be torture to know in advance the death of someone dear to you.  it must be fun though to know that you'll eventually marry the man of your dreams.  and it must be dreadful to know that you're gonna flunk your next exam.  and it sure beats not knowing you're gonna live happily ever after.

when i was very young, i wanted to be a teacher.  i remember standing in front of a huge blackboard at my dad's printing press, sitting my dolls and stuffed toys in front of me and teaching them english and math.  into my elementary years, i discovered i had a knack for the arts and towards high school, i found that one course in college that was related to the arts was architecture.  so i wanted to take that up instead.  

during the college entrance exams, i was dead set on getting into u.p.  college of architecture.  my mom told me to take other exams from other colleges just so i had other options.  so i took a bs psychology exam in ateneo, the only other school i wanted to go to, but didn't have architecture in their lineup of course.  

and another at ust college of architecture and fine arts which i was only forced to do by my mom because i always thought it was a school for promdis*.  unwillingly, i went that fateful day and sat in a classroom which was for fine arts examinees.  when the facilitator instructed those who are taking archi exams to transfer to another room, i rolled my eyes and said to myself f*ck it i aint going to this school anyway, and took the fine arts exam.

as you may already know, i finished my b.a. in fine arts major in advertising at u.s.t. and never regretted it.  well, sometimes i do think about what could have been had i gone to u.p and pursued architecture.  or if i had gotten up from that seat and walked to the other room.  or if i hadn't taken that u.s.t. exam in the first place.

and i wonder, had i known, like alice, what was gonna happen next, would i have embraced it or run away?

Love nothing but that which comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny. For what could more aptly fit your needs? ~ Marcus Aurelius

p.s. i'm thinking of getting alice's pixie hairstyle this weekend.  just as i told andre about it, he said noooo, it's so 90s!!

what if i didn't tell him and gone on to get it?


The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Soundtrack