The Simple Life (or the challenge of getting to that)

But what constitutes a simple life? The past few days have been nothing but an experience of wanting to go back to the basics and getting rid of the complications, because anyway, we will end up in the same destination in one way or another. Carpe diem!

After my 7pm meeting I found myself heading to the emergency room of Makati Med (which isn't exactly the nicest place on earth to be in) to be with a colleague who suffered from stroke and aneurysm. Things happened too fast...she was just in the middle of a late afternoon meeting, complained of dizziness and the next thing she knew, she was being wheeled out of the office building and the left side of her body is now numb and she started slurring. In a flash everything can really change...and no matter how much we plan our lives, it may not necessarily turn that way especially when the hand of God comes in. I am now thinking of some "creative" way of how to quit that damn habit of smoking! And more importantly, to manage the stress level that I am dealing with day in and day out. Grabe, in an instant we can really be gone if we don't take care of ourselves.

And then last night at Capones with Miko and Vince, both of them are saying that it really is the simple life that matters the most. I saw Mark in Miko --- magpinsan nga sila! Super bait and extremely nice! He would make it a point to be home during the weekends to be with Angelo (non-negotiable) and he wouldn't take a job outside the country even if given the chance (similar to myself, he would be getting a hold departure order in any case!). On the other hand, Vince, who manages his own content provider in the US, would give anything just to be able to come home more frequently because, as what he said, pampered ka dito eh. Someone will pick you up in the airport, you get home and the maid will bring your stuff in and your dinner will still be warm with that comfy feeling of having home cooked food. I guess it is in the contentment and satisfaction we get that we can only determine if we are living the simple life? I mean, both Miko and myself work in companies that deal with the same customer and we work our asses off...to reach that goal of, as how Miko put it, achieving the 4 rules: eat 3x a day, uminom, make sure your family is happy and healthy and manood ng sine. And when I think about it, it has been a freaking long time since I last watched a movie. As in yung sa sinehan ha. I wouldn't know if I should go watch a movie by my lonesome nang matapos na ang lahat or get that perfect time to do so. Weird diba?! But yeah, simple lang talaga dapat. How to do it is the ultimate question. I am grounding my family background on a technicality that life cannot be that simple --- especially my dad's side because I have a tita who married three times (God bless her soul), countless cousins who changed their last names as frequently as they want to and a lot of other shady characters that would put "simplicity" to non-existence. I mean, is it really a simple life letting a 3 year old girl travel all the way to the US just by herself? Such interesting and funny experiences that comprise the lives of my clan eh? I am beginning to miss my email correspondences with Auntie Jenny.

So how? I'm going to Medical City, visit my newborn niece and be happy over the fact that life is still good and having your own family is the best thing in the world and pray to God that I'd be blessed the same! Ayan! Nang matuwa naman ako kahit papano. Unknown to many, God knows how much color I need to add to my life! It just cannot be work the whole time diba?! Ops, don't wanna be jaded all over again.