Oh Manila, must you be so hostile to me? I never said I hated you. I only said we’re not compatible. lol Must you punish me for telling the truth? 😅
I’ve been here in Manila for only a week and here I am paying a visit to the clinic because of my skin rashes that do not subside and swollen lymph nodes. This is actually my body’s way of telling me that it’s fighting some sort of infection.
Doctors Are Out, The Boy Is In
Unfortunately, Gen med doctors aren’t available, booking a Grab to get to the nearest clinic is taking so long, and it’s already 2 PM, so I decided to go home. While contemplating on whether to commute via Grab, taxi, or public transportation, I decided to sit on a bench. Then a little boy sat beside me. I noticed from my peripheral vision that he can’t sit still so I thought he might have mild ADHD.
But then I also observed that it looked like he wanted to talk to me but was hesitating maybe because his parents warned him to never talk to strangers. lol So I looked at him and he smiled his sweetest smile at me and said “Hi.” I smiled my sweetest back at him too and I couldn’t help but laugh silently.
This handsome boy is quite a natural charmer. lol And he’s only about 6 or 7 years old. 😄 From my experience as a former grade school SpEd teacher, children don’t normally approach strangers and say “Hi” to them. So maybe I reminded him of his Mom.
Then his grandmother called him, and I also decided to go home via public transportation and took a jeepney. Because the traffic is worse going to my sister’s condo, I just decided to get off halfway through the trip and walked the remaining 1.9 km.
Physical Activity For A Better Body
It’s a good thing I did that because my body seemed to be craving for it. I felt a lot better and the symptoms subsided and I couldn’t explain how it happened (what the what? 😀). I love walking, by the way. Maybe because I was used to doing it back in UP Diliman when I was a college student. I remember walking more than 2 kilometers just to get to my next class when jeepneys were taking too long to arrive.
Back in my hometown, I am always going around doing something. Roaming around the farm is also similar to doing a 1-day hike. And at home, I do a lot of household chores because our house help is currently unable to work due to health concerns. I pray she’ll be able to come back next year because a big house is really hard to maintain. I just don’t know how Mom managed everything perfectly at home. (Oh, Mom. I missed you terribly.)
Anyway, it was a good thing I was wearing comfy gym clothes, so I was able to enjoy brisk walking going to the condo. And I can’t help but smile again. God surely knows how to cheer me up because though I wasn’t able to accomplish what I needed to do for the day, a handsome little boy put a smile back on my face.
A Trip To The Vet Clinic
It’s as if God was reminding me to never be anxious about everything. Just a couple of weeks ago, I got extremely worried when Peekah, our orange cat, couldn’t close her mouth, and she was drooling nonstop.
I thought she was going through some sort of paralysis. So I urged my sister that we bring her to the vet ASAP. Peekah seemed to have sensed my anxiety, she hid under my bed and only came out when I offered her cat treats.
When we reached the vet clinic, Doc JM checked her mouth and almost laughingly told us that it was only because of a loose tooth, and it was about to come off. lol Oh, you tooth. I almost had a heart attack because of you. 😅 I was so worried that I might also lose Peekah this year.
I was like, Lord, not now, please. I already lost so much. And yet not my will but Your will be done even if it is too painful. Doc JM told me that he can ease Peekah’s discomfort by extracting her tooth but she has to be sedated. The thing is, she’s already a senior cat – I got her in 2013. So he advised that we monitor her condition first and if the problem persisted, we bring her to the clinic again. Thankfully, Peekah was back to her normal self the next day as if nothing happened. And I don’t know how she got her tooth out. 😅
Peekah, btw, is an adopted stray cat from the streets of Cubao when we were still renting an apartment there in 2013. She was a tiny kitten back then when I adopted her and her sister. Unfortunately, her sister died unexpectedly a year later. I was glad though I brought them to my hometown because they got to explore the outdoors more often.
To wrap this up, everything ends well when we trust God to move on our behalf. As for that handsome little prince charming, I hope to see him again one day. Because I wanted to tell him this, “You melted my heart with your cute smile and sweet “Hi” and turned my bad day into a happy one – I’ll never forget you and that day.” ❤️
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7
The Journeyman's Moments 