On Taking Control of Our Future

For far too long I have been a victim of myself and my choices. Being powerless to change past circumstances and mistakes, I mistakenly let feelings of hopelessness take over me. Thankfully, recent painful events have jolted me out of my cycle. As my therapist said, it is only when the pain of the now outweighs the pain and fear of change that most people ever change at all. No matter how much pain I had and have to go through, I'm truly thankful for it because I know that it has helped me move forward in life.

One of the best advice about the past I've read is from Mort Fertel. Here's a snippet of what he said about how to get over your past (and past your hurt). If you're also hurting right now, I hope this somehow helps you see past your hurt too.

"...you don’t have to change the past in order to get over it. What you have to change is the MEANING of the past.

Think for a moment. Was there ever a time in your life when something horrible happened and you thought, “Why is this happening to me?” But then a few years later you looked back and you could answer that question. In retrospect, you understood why it happened. At first, it seemed like the world was caving in. Later, it all made sense.

In fact, very often, we eventually realize that bad times are part of a process that leads to something good!

It’s the events that FOLLOW bad times that determine the ultimate meaning of those times. In other words, it’s your future that determines your past; not the other way around. And since YOU are in charge of your future, then YOU determine the meaning of your past."

Here's to the future, second chances, and the power to rewrite the meaning of our past!

Good Job Sam!

After every therapy session, Sam's OT writes down the list of tasks they completed along with remarks like poor/good compliance, easily distracted, "minimal/moderate/maximum" assistance given, difficulty performing this and that task, and so on and so forth. With more obstacles than triumphs, reading his notes can sometimes get you down. I'm so used to them by now and so I didn't really expect to see anything different when I scanned the notes for today. I was pleasantly (understatement) surprised to see entry number 5 for today. It says...


5) Sorting animals and mangoes
    Independent

Woohoo!

While sorting toy animals and cardboard mangoes might not seem much for a 6-year old kid, it sure is one big achievement for our Sam.

Way to go Kuya Sam!!! We love you and are so proud of you!

Family News

Got lots of things going on in our little family once again. The big news is that WE"RE FINALLY MOVING! WE"RE GOING TO GET TO LIVE ON OUR OWN!!! I am obviously totally hyped up about it. We'll be moving to Quezon City just a little distance from SM North Edsa. Mark also want to post about it but he doesn't want to till he has some pics to show. We found the place last Saturday after we didn't find any of the places we found on the newspaper ads to be right for us. Our criteria for moving was:

• It should be really near Sam's therapy center.
• It should fit our very little budget.
• It should have good airflow.
  
• It should be as presentable as possible. In case we couldn't get a nice apartment we wanted one we could fix up.

Here's what we got:

• A 5-10min walk from Sam's therapy center.
• A small 2 bedroom condo for P6500 per month. P175/per person for water. No association dues.
• Not hot at all. With good airflow since the corridors are open at both ends plus we're located on the third floor.
• Spanking brand new place. The visitor's lounge at the ground floor isn't even finished yet. We even got a mini-porch.

All in all we got something that's so much better than we ever hoped for. And here I was determined to find something P6K and below that we can renovate. Oh me of little faith. We got a P6.5K deal, which doesn't need to be renovated at all. I loooove great deals.

What's even better is that Ate Neng, the manager, held the unit for us WITHOUT any downpayment since we didn't have any cash on hand. Mark's paying the required 2mos advance and deposit this Wednesday but the few days hold was really important since the place was selling like donuts. They had a policy that no reservations could be made without the down payment. Well of course we just had to mention our trump card, Sam, and we always get what we want.

More good news that excites me. Since we don't have any furniture or big appliances (except for the bed from Rico - thank ye Rico dear) we're having our table and book shelves and whatever else wood stuff we might need made out of the red lawan wood that washed up during the October storm. My dad had portions of the tree cut into planks and since it's really good wood we get to have quality furniture for a very very low price. I'd hate ...no I love to imagine how much it would have cost us ready made at SM.

And last. Mark has even cut a deal with his officemate (I love you Monics though you might not really know me) for her unused refrigerator. She bought it at 10k and we get it for half the price. She's selling it because her husband also bought a ref from the States and sent it to her just when she bought the one she's selling now . Thank God for other people's mistakes.

So many blessings. As I said this year is just going to get better.