i was off for a week. my father died. and our family deeply grieved his passing. my father was a "jack of all trades".
he was a boy scout. a radio announcer. a journalist. a tennis player. an administrator. a friend. a boss. a shoulder to cry on. a good provider. kind. norturing. frank. funny. a brother. a layman. an educator. a traveller. a soldier. a loving son. a loyal husband. he, together with mama, struggled to raise us eight (8) children. and we deeply appreciated their efforts.
as a child, i fell guilty for not being with him on his last days. he celebrated his birthday last march and a week after he died. i felt that i did not gave my best to alleviate his pain despite what he did to me, to us. i felt so inadequate. though, he was bedridden (so is mama), every now and then my other siblings made it a point to visit them. but me, i was away from home and if ever had the time dropped by the house and visited them. though he says, he understands us, that we have our own family and facing another life to live.
my father was a prominent figure in my life. in a way, i was like him - i became a radio announcer. i wrote for a newspaper. i was involved in media every now and then. forever, i am grateful to him. and we are missing him. his life was worth emulating. as we say in the media it is not the end, but only writing 30.

for a couple of days now,i've been hearing my husband sighing-and-sighing... i asked him - why? his answer? - he's bothered on the continuous rising of prices of commodities - rice, fish, meat, and other basic commodities. we know for the fact, that in the everyday news we heard and see on television all about these - prices rising. and we wondered how we'll manage in the coming days. our salaries have not-risen, yet almost everyday the prices of commodities rises.

our youngest child (a girl), even told me - "mama,you know i will eat potatoes. so that, we'll not have to buy much rice." she had this idea, because, she saw on television that foreign shows cooking potatoes as their rice. and i told her - "yes, there will come a time will be eating potatoes, pilipino variety - camote."

with this predicament our country is facing, i have apprehensions of the coming days and months. i am praying that tuition, come enrolment time will not increase. i don't know how we'll be able to send the kids to school. i don't know what strategy we will be using to manage our meager salaries-just-to-make-ends-meet. aside from the usual process of having "utang" and "advancing our salaries", and in-what-household-expenses-we-can-cut-and-make-tipid, and appealing-to-my-siblings-for-a-loan, and of course - imploring the ALMIGHTY to hear our prayers and asking for guidance and divine intervention...

DEAR GOD, WE NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET. AMEN.