In Retrospect: Goodbye 2009

Hello guys! In a few hours we will say sayonara to the year 2009. Another year of fun, laughters, happiness, sadness, challenges, adversities etc. had passed. This year brought a lot of unforgettable events to me and I can't forget all the memories I had incurred all throughout the year.

Every year has it's own promises and surprises to bring to us whether it is good or bad and whatever it was that had happened to us this year for sure contributed a lot to your different outlook in life and the memories still lingered in your remote mind.

Another year that added a year to our creeping age making us a year older. For me I dreaded to reach the moment in my life which implicated my getting old but as we let nature run it's course we cannot do anything to defy it. We have to admit that as we aged we gain wisdom above all.

The first quarter of the year was not that promising to me. From January to March there's not much to remember I think. I still teach at the LVN school in Hawthorne handling two batches and my job at the hospital in downtown Los Angeles was still steady.

The second quarter was a little more auspicious compared to the first quarter. In April I conceived this online blog spot under the heading "Inner Contemplations." And so far this was very promising to me because the online site is still standing up to this time.

It already posted about 115 entries until now, and I am so proud about it's eventual success. It mirrors my various sentiments and moods and also what's running inside my mind everytime I write something. Although, I faced a lot of challenges along the way still it thrived very well. I am so proud about myself for keeping it up and also thankful that God was always there to give me a lot of ideas and inspiration to post.

The first batch that I handle at Homestead Schools, Inc. culminated their program with a very successful graduation at The Reef restaurant in Long Beach, CA on the first week of April. The graduation program was a big success. So far, after their NCLEX review I heard that eight students out of eleven successfully passed their board exams. It was a big achievement on my part to have heard that they did good in their exams. And I missed them so dearly.

The second quarter of the year was also vacation time for me. In May I took a two-weeks off from my very busy work schedule. Me and my best friend George took off to Seattle, WA to visit some of his close friends there and at the same time see and tour the whole place. I just tagged along with him since it was really his vacation. I like Seattle a lot considering the emerald and lush trees that surrounds the whole state and the polite people that lived there.

The month of May was also a sad month for me because I had received a bad news from my brother informing  me that my mother was been critically ill. In as much as I wanted to go home that time I could not do it because my work schedule was in conflict so I promised my mom that I will try to go home in July.

When I went home in July I saw my dear mother deteriorating and was lying on her deathbed very helpless. If I can only turn back the time, I probably had did something to alleviate what she felt. But it seems that the cancer in her brain consumed her so much and she told me the last time I spoke to her that she was very very tired now and was just waiting for me to come home.

It was a very sad homecoming for me yet I know that my mom choses to give up that time because she knows that I was there to show her my love and care. I still took care of her for a week when I was there before she died the day of my departure to the US. I left the Philippines that time with the goal to pursue my vacation to France and when everything gets tough I promised her that I will come back after the vacation.

When I layed over in Hawaii the bad news was been relayed to me by my brother through a phone text. Upon arriving at the US, I was about to leave for France for a two weeks vacation but instead of going there I decided to call the Continental Airlines to just postpone my trip next year in May. I then scheduled myself to go back home and prepared my mother's wake and burial after asking permission for a leave of absence at school and hospital work.

The third quarter of the year set in where all spent for mourning for my mom's passing. August was the saddest month for me. It was the time to bring my dear mother to her permanent resting place and say goodbye to her for the last time.

The mass and the burial was the saddest times for me because I bottled up a lot of emotions inside me. I felt that I was about to burst and give up that time, but I held on to my composure. I then picked up the pieces of myself and went back to the US to face another challenge in my life and go on with it alone.

September was the time I came back to work but it seems that I am still affected by my mom's loss. I am still grieving madly and can't even concentrate at work and at school. I then decided to focus more on picking up myself and tried to go back and seek God's guidance. Good thing I was still resilient to continue surviving.

The last quarter were the months that I was able to pick up myself and get over my grieving process. I learned how to held up and seek God's help through intent prayers. My recovery from my grief was enormously well and I was able to come back to normal again.

October was the month of my birthday. I celebrated my 40th birthday with a lot of surprises firstly from my students in school, organizing a little birthday celebration in my honor, as well as my friends preparing my birthday celebration a little festive and memorable with foods and cakes in tow. It was a memorable and unforgettable birthday I had.

The months of November and December was not quite special for me, although I still thrive well against the odds. I worked on Thanksgiving and Christmas day, so it's really nothing special to me.

Although the second week of November was the last day of the second batch, which is Batch 5, I had handled at Homestead Schools, Inc. I had them for almost two years and now they were almost done with their school pending their exit exams. I can still see another set of students making a mark in their lives as they graduate in March pending their ATI and exit exams. Hopefully they will do good on their NCLEX board exams, too, as what Batch 4 did after they graduated.

As we end this year, I hope the coming year will be a better year compared to the previous year. The year 2009 was also a year of devastation, calamities, and abuse of human rights for my birth country, the Philippines.

Although there were some good events and situations that had happened but the ones that cause havoc to the lives of my countrymen were the ones easily remembered. From typhoons, to flooding, economic hardships, to poverty, natural calamities like the spewing of lava by the Mayon Volcano, until the mass killings and murder of the innocent and helpless journalists in Maguindanao done by a political tyrants in the said province. The year of 2009 can be easily remembered because of all of these.

So I hope as the year ends, I hope we can bury all those bad things that had happened and start anew for the coming year. The coming presidential elections will post more threat to the society but I am hoping it will be a peaceful process. Hopefully it will be a promising year for me and for us Filipinos.

Sayonara to you year 2009. Another history had already pass and hope this will be remembered as the year with a lot that happened in our lives. Each year always brought a lot of legacy in our life so hopefully as the year 2009 leaves we will always learn a lot from our shortcomings and will try to avoid those bad situations to happen again.

And as the famous New Year song says; "Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind. Should old acquaintance be forget and as the days gone by."  Happy New Year guys!