If You Have to Ask…
I got a few inquiries about my proposals business, most joking and some believing. Just to be clear, that was a joke, an exercise in sarcasm and imaginative stupidity. I know nothing about romance, know nothing about proposals or weddings, and my violin skills are limited to my government appointed task to scare away the swine flu.

Besides, someone already stole my idea for a salon. They even copied my name.

The Buzz
The signs are unmistakable. The family is entering a new season. We’re writing a new chapter that includes more females and maybe, very soon, little versions of ourselves.

That’s the other thing about family. One guy gets a crazy idea and the whole family is in for the ride. Of course this can go both ways.

And currently the buzz surrounding us is Joseph’s buzz on The Buzz, a local entertainment show. Like I’ve said over and over, he’s a brave man.

But I’ve decided to follow his footsteps and complicate my life as well. I think I’ll get me a boat.

My Big Head
Last Sunday, I was peacefully driving to church after a wonderful weekend of kayaking and sailing, when my phone started to beep continuously receiving one text after another. The first one I got was from Camille that read, “Kris Aquino’s saying on tv that she met u and that ur cute. Hahaha.” The other texts were all saying the same thing from people who caught that afternoon’s episode of the show.

It didn’t take long for my already big head to get bigger.

Then I was reminded of something that happened to me while sailing just a few hours earlier. After a successful tack, I was feeling good about myself when I didn’t notice the wind change and the bow swung, hit me in the head, and knocked me off the boat. The lesson: A big head is a big target for a swinging bow.

So I turned my phone off, stopped over at a Starbucks along the highway, and lost myself in Carlos Zafon’s new novel the Angel’s Game. Then a second thought hit me: Our greatest pleasures, our greatest escapes, and our greatest satisfaction come in the places, times, things, and people we lose ourselves in.

Here we are trying to find ourselves, to discover ourselves, or be discovered by others, when it’s in losing ourselves to someone else, to something greater or bigger, that fulfillment is found. The truths of life are so far from the paradigms of this world. May I not live a life wasted chasing empty chalices.

-

Ok, let’s go back to the past for a bit. Things were much simpler back then.

Don’t Forget
When I was a kid, every night before sleeping, my mother would come into our room (my brothers and I shared a room, which didn’t make for easy bedtimes since Josh liked having some audio story playing, Joe liked the lights open, and I wanted the lights off, as dark as possible, and as quiet as possible), and we would have the following conversation:

Mother Superior (opens the door and looks in): Don’t forget…
Brothers Bonifacio (irritated): Yes yes. We won’t forget!
Mother Superior: What won’t you forget?
Brothers Bonifacio (super cornied-out at having to go through this conversation every night): You love us…
Mother Superior: Ok, good night.

Years later, while the late night reminders have stopped, and moving out day draws near, I still have not forgotten that my mother loves me. What I used to think was a corny and redundant activity, now that I look back, reinforced a sense of security in me.

Forgetting is a natural process that happens when a memory is not as reinforced as other memories or is not reinforced at all. Try forgetting something on purpose. It’s impossible. The more you try to forget something, the more your mind reminds you of its existence. Remembering on the other hand is reinforcing memory. I like to think of it as re – member or be a member of once again, and repeat or relive the experience.

A lot has changed since we were kids. I’m not quite as behaved (well, I never was behaved to begin with), not half as innocent, or as trusting, or as quick to hope, and the dreams are sometimes nightmares. But whenever things seem a little overwhelming, and as we navigate this new path, it always helps to remember my mother reminding me, “Don’t forget.”