To Be Golden

I will be turning “golden” in a few months and I plan to write some-sort of a memoir/autobiography at this stage in my life. When I turned 49 last May, I promised myself a personal project to would mark that milestone. I was seriously going to chronicle my five decades worth of existence with a compilation of travel essays, advocacy articles, and family blogs. There would also probably be some poetry, love letters, and technical writing thrown in too. I would try to capture everything that seems to define me for now, or at least approximate the kind of person I have turned out to be. I hope the result would be something I can be proud of.

The first decade about my childhood years would be about my family, our ancestral home, summer vacations, and school days punctuated by the Girl Scouts, piano recitals and speed reading lessons. I’ll probably talk about what it’s like to be from a large family, growing up with many siblings, the joy of family pets, annual clan reunions, and even our resident ghost. I plan to call this chapter “Foundations of History”. My especially “turbulent” teenage years was a decade of transitions, where changes became opportunities to “reinvent” myself. After years of laying-low, I decidedly tried to “excel” during my senior year in high school and maximize the freedom of university life when I moved away to UP Los Banos. I will call this portion, the “Promise of Reinvention”, as my secret world of books and writing moved to the reality of balancing academics with sorority life. The next decade as a young adult was no less tumultuous as I underwent continuous evolution as a person – initially as a Makati office girl and then as a law student at UP Law. This can be aptly named the “Emergence of Possibilities” as the power of metamorphosis slowly took shape. I consider my 30s just as dynamic as the previous decade, but more or less determinative of where I was headed as I became increasingly known for my sectoral advocacies for women, children, migrant workers and sexual minorities. I also managed to pursue my “first love” which was “writing” and enrolled in an MA course in UP Diliman while continuing to contribute to various publications. I would like to think of this decade as the “Breakthrough Years”. Throughout my activism and advocacy work, I discovered my communication skills were not limited to writing, but also extended to public speaking and capacity-building. In addition, my sectoral expertise expanded further to include the elderly/ageing concerns, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and even solo parents. Eventually, people who have heard of or experienced trainings under me recommended me for teaching positions. And so, I found myself teaching with the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) system. A few more personal upheavals came to pass, but there were areas in my life which sort of “calmed down” as I approached middle-age. A new committed relationship brought with it additional “family duties”, and my most challenging role yet is been parenting a precocious little girl nowadays. So in essence, I am currently in my “Loving Years”.

These past four months I have tried to gather and consolidate some earlier essays and blogs, which were mostly travelogues, tributes to family members, and a few serious advocacy pieces. I still have so much to document as far as travels are concerned, and maybe some candid takes on my own existence especially when it comes to my love life. In the meantime, I think I shall read some more Anthony Bourdain, Pico Iyer, Andrew MaCarthy, Michael Crichton and Frank McCourt.