D' Day

My Korean Mentor once told me that "time travels directly proportional to our age". Thus, as we grow older, time travels a little bit faster. And I do agree with it because once I was still young, I was eagerly awaiting the day I will be able to work on my own. At that time, I contemplated that time is very slow. Yet, these days, time seems to fly by in a second. And so, the day has come again for me to celebrate one of the best things that ever happened to me - the birth of my daughter Danielle. It seems just months ago that I held her in my arms and placed her on her hanging crib as she sleeps. Now, when I come home from work, she runs around our house and doesn't want to sleep even though her eyes beg to differ. I guess time for her runs 3 miles per second now that she is 3 years old.

Danielle has the same birthday as my eldest brother - Kuya Noem on March 14. We even contemplated on naming her Noemi but I decided to name her Danielle from the Holy Bible prophet Daniel. The prophet Daniel in the Bible had the gift of understanding visions and dreams. Eversince I became a father, I have somehow cleared my mind of unnecessary things in life and just focused on becoming a good provider for my family. Somehow, she is the clarity to my dreams and living a life of direction. She completed my family and gave me a direction. I continue to hope and pray that the Lord will continue to bless me and my family as I work towards the fulfillment of my dreams. I added Marie to her name hoping she will get my Mom's virtues.

I really didn't want to have a birthday party due to some concerns within our families in the Philippines. I would feel guilty celebrating a party with the situations back home. Yet, I don't want to miss the chance to share the happiness I feel having a complete family here in Korea. As one saying goes, "Happiness is only real when shared." Thus, we decided to hold a small salo-salo with my close friends at work and some friends of Danielle who are actually Korean-Filipino kids with Filipina moms. As we tried to minimize our budget, we were still able to squeeze in a simple Filipino birthday party with Filipino foods - Bam-i, Pork Humba, Breaded Chicken, Crispy Pata, Bulalo, and Macaroni Salad. Ofcourse, we had a Birthday Cake, actually two cakes as one of my friends brought one to the party. With our Magic Sing and some beers and soju (Korean traditional rice wine), we had a relatively enjoyable evening with my friends. As gift for Danielle, we bought her a children's piano/keyboard from the internet which is the best way to buy things here since its cheaper and its delivered right at your doorstep. Danielle also received some nice gifts such as stuffed toys, a Barbie doll, a toy stroller (which is one of her favorite these days) for her stuffed toys and dolls, coloring pens, and some nice dresses. The party ended at midnight as my friends enjoyed singing on our magic sing and talking with each other beyond work concerns. I guess it was all worth it and sharing time with friends and family is one of the best things money can't buy.