Deetsie's Heroic Dailies

2008 Birthday cake from Ryla Lim of Nikon Cakes

For 11 years now, I have been running a Birthday contest. Whoever greets me first after MY clock strikes 12:00 midnight on every 18th of March wins a very special prize! Prizes are different each year. I started by giving little surprises to the greeter like candy bars, a bag of chips, prepaid phone credits or a dinner in a restaurant. Once there was a winner who likes to collect bells and chimes so I gave her one. Last year, the winner received a facial spa treatment. I just feel joyful inside to surprise someone who remembers my birthday with a little something.

And for this year, the award for the “annual greet me first” contest goes to… (drum rolls) Helen Tubeo- Laureano, my sister-in-law from Davao City.  She greeted me at around 4:45 am today.

My little Ea turned 1 last friday.  The party was short, simple but fun and heartwarming.  Jeedo and I were joined by our family and close friends from SMSI and WCG.  The program was planned to start at 4PM but because of the rainy weather, most of the guests didn’t get there on time.  I didn’t want to start the whole thing without the ‘witnesses’ so we opted to wait a little longer until almost everyone was there.  We started around 5:30PM with the dedication ceremony officiated by Pastor Jerome.  We had candles lit to symbolize Jesus as the light upon Ea’s path with the parents, ninongs and ninangs guiding the little one along the way.  A sumptuous dinner followed after.  The food was yum.  We had a bit of extra dishes even after everyone had their fill.  The highlights of the event other than the dedication was the Triv-Ea game which I bet everyone had fun guessing and learning facts about Ea and of course Ea’s smiles and laughters that surprised all of those who haven’t seen her showing it.

My family from Davao came over and stayed in the same resort.  My manang Grace also ‘graced’ the event.  She took a flight from manila to davao and drove with the peeps to here.  It was so nice of them to come over considering they had to travel seven long hours by bus.   We had a great time chatting by the pool, we cooked, ate and did a lot of catching ups.  They all went home early this morning.

It feels amazing inside to realize how much Ea has grown over 12 months.  My baby is still a baby but Ea never ceases to surprise me with her new discoveries.  I’m sure a lot more of her antics will unfold in the next coming days, weeks, months and years.