“At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.” - Toni Morrison
Even if the things I do every day are repeated, I always remind myself to be productive, and have time to reflect on things. As I always say, being a mom is so hard and challenging. That is why I really salute those mothers who are able to work, study while taking care of children and husbands.
I woke up very early this morning. I alarmed my phone every 4:45 in the morning but I got up earlier, so I just turned off the clock alarm and woke up immediately on my bed and checked the messages for a while. Fortunately, I only have a few unread messages. Every day, my Messenger and other messaging platforms are always blown up because of the amount of people chatting. There are always times when I almost send it to someone wrong, but that's fine. I always want myself to get busy and productive, even though we don't have a stable income.
Lately, I've noticed that I'm falling asleep early. Actually it's a good thing because my body clock is finally coming back. For those who don't know, I recently resigned from my job as a call center representative due to my medical condition. I am now doing fine and getting healthy again. To be honest, there is a part of me that regrets the lost work but I have a son, I don't want to die early because of the stressful and toxic account I handled.
Anyways, my son's school schedule is early so we travel on the way to his school at six every morning. We always ride a jeepney because it's the main transportation in our area but this morning, we were forced to ride a pedicab because the jeepney was full of passengers. My son doesn't like the people next to him squeezing him into the seat of the jeepneys, so if we see an available pedicab driver, I take it. The cost is only twenty-five to thirty pesos so it's okay after all. Since remote scooters became trend here in Manila, pedicab drivers have also lost their jobs. As I observe, there are a few passengers who choose to ride the Scooter/e-bike because it runs faster than the traditional pedicab.
Right after entering my son's school, I will temporarily stay for a few minutes, just to make sure that the children go up to their classrooms inside their school building. Even if we say that the school has guards, it is still inevitable that there are children who escape and go everywhere. Days before the parents meeting, I also heard some hearsay about some students who sneak out and then go home. This is worrying because several children are missing in our city and it is also scary because there are many cases of kidnapping, child exploitation and so on. I avoid this from happening to my son so as long as I am available I will stay at the school until the gates close.
When I go home, I always walk on the school shortcut. It takes me fifteen minutes to walk every time I do this and that's totally fine with me because I also measure my steps every day. At the same time, who wouldn't love vitamin D which comes from the sunlight? I believe I need it so much because lately I always look pale.
Every part of it has a great story to tell just like this river. I am hopeful that it is not too late to return to its beauty and cleanliness. In truth, there are people who are still concerned about the river and are strictly implementing policies that will help to reduce its pollution. But still, it's not enough because everyday, there are still many people who don't care and continue to throw things into this river. There are also other establishments that dump their waste directly here. People who live around this river are guilty. And all of us must work together for the return of its cleanliness and order. It's still fun because there are projects that local governments are doing. There are other barangays that are making all efforts to guard the river. Others have even launched fines for those caught dumping it. For me that was a good start and hopefully people will continue to change.
My mom's plants are so healthy and blooming. They are the living proof that my mother takes care of her plants. Because of her plants like chilis, calamansi and even lemon grass, we now also get other things to put in the dishes.
I rarely go up here because I'm so busy, so earlier, I made some time to pay attention to the plants. Do you believe that when you talk to your plants, they bloom more and bear fruit? And if you rarely water them and pay attention to them, they will sulk and dry until the plants die. I just realized how communication means a lot. I do believe that they have emotions as well. Trees, flowers, the rivers, mountains and other natural resources need to be appreciated as well, just like how humans want themselves to be treated too.
Even though I repeat what I do every day, there are a lot of things that I am so grateful for and one of it is the gift of life. I am thankful that today, I had a time appreciating these things around me. And hoping to explore more! 🙏🏼✨😇
All images are originally mine.
Location: Manila, Philippines
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