And just like that, they’re 12

My four children. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Prior to 2010, I didn’t know if I wanted kids. I wanted a carefree life, I wanted to travel that’s why I applied for scholarships abroad. I wanted to spend on myself. I told my mom I’m scared of being a mom. I was not prepared.

No one is ever prepared, she said.

So for 12 years, I was groping my way into parenthood. Up to this moment, I’m still unsure if I’m doing fine as a parent, especially a solo one.

Until I became a mother on this day 12 years ago, I didn’t know that adults are just winging it. That the truth was, everybody was just winging it and pretended to know what she/he is doing. I always thought when I was a kid, my parents knew what they were doing that’s why they were the authority on everything.

They were just faking it, my mom admitted to me one time. She was just feeling her way.

I just get some kind of validation that I’m doing fine as a mom when my kids show empathy towards everybody, are polite and respectful to everybody, know what is right and wrong, and know how to spend wisely. They do not want much and are happy with what I give them and with what they have. They never asked for iPhones or ostentatious things. If they want something, they save for it, like roller skates or an acoustic guitar.

I told them we should eat something special at Grand Hyatt today. They told me, no mommy, we just do it on your birthday. We just cook at home.

Grilled steak, it’s their favorite. I seldom grill steaks now to control my cholesterol. I had the smallest piece while they had the big ones. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

And they were happy with grilled steak. They were just happy sharing a meal with me everyday, especially today.

They are the reason why I had to pull myself out of the rut I was in in the last two and half years. And they will always be the reason why I am doing the best I can. I’m doing this move for them, to give them the best safe and loving environment for them. For them to have fun without having to suffer the headaches of living in the city.

If not for them, I wouldn’t believe in the concept of love again. A mother’s love is endless.

Little tattle tale

I had dinner with friends at Podium earlier tonight as the host of the evening came back home from New York for a vacation. P works for a competing news agency but is doing more data journalism/analytics.

Conversation was light and fun until it came to the point that P told me that last week he saw M–the girl that my ex J was playing around with back in 2021. He told me she told him about me and J and her.

Like WTF!

So she can’t keep her mouth shut while I kept my peace, can she? L and I just looked at each other from across the table when P was talking about what this girl, M, has been tittle tattling about.

P has been away from the country for quite some time and he is not the kind of friend I would tell this kind of thing. But here we are, Ms. Little Tattle Tale…🤷🏻‍♀️ Like is she even proud of that?!

When I was driving L back to her house in QC, I said that this dinner should have had a trigger warning. “Should I tell P that, oh yeah, M is the 1/2 reason I got so drunk in August 2021 and the next day I phoned a psychiatrist because I have gone nuts?” I asked L.

Good thing that I no longer go ballistic when I get triggered. I’m stable, thanks for that year-long psychiatric therapy. It works wonders, I tell you.

Starting the day with a prayer and a meditative painting exercise. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

I’m just trying to shake off the nasty feeling inside me. I may have to continue painting tomorrow to make me feel good. Art therapy also saved me last year as it helped me channel all the negative energy into something prettier or more productive.

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

Why is it that even after almost 2.5 years, I still get haunted by this? By him? Ah yes, as my shrink said, this is trauma response. Like a soldier with PTSD who gets triggered by a sound of a gunshot. Even after years of not being in combat or being in a war zone. Trauma response is a way to cope with traumatic experiences.

I wish I have no more fucks to give. And just flat out be numb.

The last hurrah before turning into a slave again

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

Again, I didn’t have the patience to do sketches before watercoloring. I just stayed loose because I’m lazy and I was just going with the flow, with what I’m feeling. I just followed where the water was going.

I wish I could be like that in real life. However, I can’t because I’m in charge of the lives of two people who are completely dependent on me. I have to be organized and responsible so I won’t fuck up their lives and end up therapy. The only time I can be loose and free is when I watercolor like this. Even when I travel, I say “whatever, I’ll just go with whatever I feel like,” but in truth there are a lot of planning involved there. I’m just not rigid.

So this is my last hurrah before I go back to work tomorrow. Put my nose on the grinding stone again. Then pack our little things in between so I can drive these stuff to my house in bits and pieces…

Speaking of my house, my contractor gave me the bill for the construction work for my laundry area and a separate bill for the waterworks i.e. pressure tanks, etc. I hope these are the last of it because anything more than that means I would have to draw down on my moneymarket UITF. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Good thing I still have enough free cash/retained earnings to tide me by without touching my investments again.

It’s hard to adult.

Because He first loved us

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4 :19

I did nothing today but listen to the Easter service this morning online, do watercolors, and sleep. A perfect day for introverts like me.

But I didn’t do anything complicated today. I wasn’t up to it yet.

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

I just kept things loose because I didn’t have patience to do pencil sketches of complicated flowers. Maybe later tonight?

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

Yeah, later. I need to cook hotpot for early dinner. I’m lazy. You just chuck everything in and there you have it—dinner!


Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

I made an initial drawing of this last year on my sketchbook. I remade it tonight because I want to see if I have improved. I have better watercolors and brushes now.

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

But still, it’s hard to get the colors and blending right 😑. I need more practice. But when to find the time and right amount of headspace for this? I realized that I can make something decent if my mind is fully rested. But then, how can I explain the more decent drawings I had when I was trying to use art as therapy last year? 🤔

Happy Easter!

Since I had my brain rested, I was able to make fresh art again.

Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com

I’ll probably make more complicated ones tomorrow.

Can’t wait for this month to end

I just want to go to the sea without having to deal with the heavy road traffic that motorists have encountered this Holy Week break. Friends had been stuck on NLEX or provincial roads for hours on Thursday. That’s the reason why I chose to stay in the city this long weekend—I don’t want that kind of stress.

My sister has been bugging me to book Las Caidas in Cavinti, Laguna but I said my calendar is full until we move next month. There is no way I can fit that from now since Tuesday next week is the beginning of the annual stockholders meeting season.

But I think I’d rather go to Masungi Georeserve first than Las Caidas because going around Rizal province would be harder for me now that I’m relocating south. Cavinti is just an hour away from my new house so it’s pretty accessible at all-year round.

I am itching to go on a hike or diving instead of lounging around resorts and pretend that I’m a lady of leisure. Nature trips had always been my jam. Good thing my kids learned how to love it, too.

Gotta start packing to go back home. Staying in a hotel for three days in a city is the maximum I can tolerate.


Sushi snuggling with me again. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

And that’s it. I’m hiding in my room now with the aircon on because it’s freaking hot outside. I did all my vegetable and meat shopping before going back home because I have no intention of going out until Wed.

I brought my sewing and watercolor kits with me at the hotel but I wasn’t able to touch those for some reason. I think my body and mind just gave up and didn’t function in the last three days. So that’s what overworking does to me. I just crash and burn. Then I hibernate completely to cope.

You know, planning and arranging things for work and at home (and a house construction) can really exhaust a person. Sometimes, I just want to go with the flow and have somebody else arrange things for me. Just for a change, somebody else to take care of me and lift some of the responsibilities off my shoulders. Because you know, a superwoman gets tired. I’m not a robot.