Please let me and cake have our moment... Mmm...
Hey Papa! Do you remember what day is it today? Today's my 20th birthday! Yay! I've finally come of age!
I'm both happy and excited this day had come. My first official day of becoming an adult (finally!). Now I can truly prove myself to the world! And since it's my birthday, I'd stop addressing you as Father just this once. :)
Why am I so happy and excited anyway? What's with being 20 that is fun and exciting? Frankly, there's the maturity issue. And there's the fact about handling more responsibilities than ever before. So what's there to be happy about?
Well, my dear Papa, here are my reasons:
1. When you've lived half your life taking medicine tablets and capsules in your system like candy, wouldn't you appreciate another year of living? Some might think I'm crazy speaking like this. (Well, I am crazy. Half my brain does a million somersaults while the other half monitors everything else.) But when you look back all the years of near death, you'd realize just how lucky one can be to be given another chance to live.
2. Alright, so another year means another 360-days of hardship, pain, and sorrow. Surprise! That's not the only thing in life! There are a lot of good things to look forward to with another year. Like the reunion concert of your favorite band or next year's anime convention. Or reuniting with a friend. Or finding your soulmate. And for dreams, well, here's another year of dreaming or making it real, it's your choice. It had been a good number of years of good and bad experiences, of beautiful and horrible memories,and of appreciation and regret. And here you are, starting a new page again.
3. And when is it that you feel much appreciated (or lonely for the lack of it)? Isn't it on the very day that you were born? Okay, so there's Christmas and Valentines, and all the other holidays, but if you think about it, the reason why birthdays are celebrated in the first place because the people around you appreciate your coming into their lives. If you weren't born, then who would love them the way only you could do? Somebody else, probably. But it will never turn out the same way if you weren't there. You don't celebrate that during Christmas or Valentines Day, do you?
4. It isn't everyday you get a day dedicated to you (and hundreds others celebrating their birthdays around the world.)
5. People are extra nice to you during birthdays. They treat you lunches, do you favors, give you stuff for free... And your popularity just goes off the roof on your birthday.
Well, of course, my 5 reasons isn't applicable to everyone else. There are others who hate their birthday. Others treat it just like any other normal day. And others who lost the point of celebrating birthdays at all. But I think, one should, at least celebrate one's date of birth in whatever way they can. With or without family and friends. After all, birthdays only come once a year. And not everyone gets to survive another birthday.
I will then use this space to thank everyone who shared the past 19 years with me:
1. God - of course, for giving me another year to live.
2. You - for helping me come into this world.
3. Mama - for loving me for the horrible monster that I am for 19 years now.
4. Nanay - who continues to look after me, even in Heaven. Hi Nanay!
5. Uncle - for being himself and trying his best to make us all happy. And for bringing me to and from school when I was small.
6.My close relatives (Mama's side) - for being there and supporting us all the way.
7. My not-so-close relatives (Your side) - for helping us to remain steadfast (even if they were never on our side).
8. My bestfriend, Aki - for the friendship, for her patience, and for everything else (including your gift: "Remembrance" by Jude Deveraux)
9. My close friends (Paula, Kat, Erik, Joy, Joan, Nark, Jay) - for listening to all the mumbojumbo I've been telling them. I miss you guys!
10. My friends (plus all the rest of 4BA5 class 2007) - for taking the time and interest of knowing me and introducing yourself to me. (And for letting me copy from time to time. :D) *sniff* I miss you too...
11. My classmates (from Nursery to College) - for breaking my crayons, borrowing my pens, asking for some paper, taking my answers (Deny and you will be punished!), and thanking God that I was there. (No hard feelings here, guys!)
12. My teachers and professors - for taking care of me in school, for making me do things I wouldn't like doing (like Math for example), for trying to appreciate me and the things I do (like my artworks), for trying to get into my head (but never succeeded! hah!), and for making my life hell with quizzes, homeworks, projects and failing grades. Of course, I appreciate all these things now. (But I'm still not taking the curses off some of you! )
13. The head mistress of our school (Nursery & Kinder) - for giving me awards and recognizing my potential (genius).
14. The principal (Grade 1 to 3) - for taking my side against those students whom I thought bullied me. (Now I'm regretting of accusing them.)
15. The school administration (Grade 4 to 6) - for giving me considerations during this chaotic phase of my life. For giving me countless opportunities trying to make my life as normal as other children. For protecting me against the teasing of other classmates and for teaching me to be responsible.
16. Vincent - for calling me names and making my 3 years in your school hell. And for letting everyone in our batch call me names. (I still hold a bit of a grudge, you know.)
17. The ever-famous and semi-omnipotent directress of our school and their staff (high school) - for letting me into your school, for teaching me to abide by the rules, and for teaching me to never let my guard down (because you are watching). Also for the delicious sweet and sour meatballs, siopao, tacos, nachos, fries, hashbrowns, and squidballs served at the canteen. (Hopefully you still serve them.) And the plastic spoons and forks that always break when you try to use them. Because of that, I learned how to improvise.
18. My neighbors - for not losing their temper and sanity whenever I scream and cry and sing and do crazy stuff, aloud.
19. My crushes and love interests (you know who you are!) - for giving color to my life and teaching me what it was to fall in love.
20. All the strangers I've met in life - the jeepney, bus, tricycle and fx drivers who took me to my destination, the people who were there and assisted in Nanay's funeral, the man who used to sell those mysteriously delicious "burgers", the holduppers who slashed our bags, the people who read and flame my works over the Net, and all the other people who had been part of my life even for a second. For the time you gave and the impression you left on me.
I wonder how many will be added here when I turn 21?
