Dear Mom & Dad,

It's nearly been a week since I left you guys and I have finally gotten acclimated to the time and my sleep pattern is back to normal.  I miss you both.

I think of the times, waking up next to you, Mommy every morning and it makes me smile.  Then again, dad greeting me every morning with a cup of coffee, also keeps me smiling.  Shoot, just hanging out with you guys TOTALLY ROCKED!!!  You guys ALWAYS make me laugh, even at times when I feel like crying, you guys always seem to find humor and the right words to comfort me.  I miss helping out and being physically there, preparing meals for mom and seeing the contentment on both of your faces.  Being there in Malolos with you guys made me semi-complete...you know who was missing in the picture...Jonathan.  All in all, it was great bonding time for us 3; the original 3.  I miss coming home from my trips with cousins and telling you guys all about it.  I cherished each second, minute and hour we were together and as I said of the last visit, each visit gets better each time.  However, each time it gets harder to leave and I'm left sobbing on my last day.  Now that sucks!

I guess my fondest memory of this visit was Dad's tirade when I clogged the toilet!  ROFL!!!  Do you remember what you told me, mom, while we laid in bed quietly?!  You told me, "I would lay quiet if I were you, let him go off on his rant."  We laid there cracking up while we watched dad go to and from the bathroom with the plunger.  Then, the plunger got stuck in the toilet and dad was left holding the handle!  Oh my!  I couldn't help but crack up!!!!  Finally, when I knew he'd cooled off (it only took half the day for him to cool off <eye roll>), I approached him and smiled at him with my cheesy, little girl smile.  At first, he just shook his head and then he hugged me and started cracking up, telling me "you're something else and yeah you're different alright."  LOL!!!!  I love it!!!  It was a "you had to be there" moment and we were, all together. 

Well, I guess I've said enough.  I miss and love you both very much and I can't wait to see you again.  Don't worry, this year will go by very quickly.  Before we know it, it'll be time for more antics and wackiness--committed by yours truly.

Love,
Maritess

PS.  Here's a video of us, which will hopefully brighten your day:   http://bit.ly/yLTbXJ

Yes, you’ve read it correctly…and I was the star of it!  LOL!!!  It’s funny now, but 2 days ago, it wasn’t funny at all. Note: I just got back from the Philippines last Thursday after 3 weeks of much needed rest and relaxation.

My Sunday started off right; I had brunch with my cousins, the Ayao sisters.  Now, even though, I already know how they are, I still gave them the benefit of the doubt.  We went to Noble SF on Polk Street for Sunday Brunch. 
After polishing off 3-4 jugs of Mimosas, I was feeling rather good, more  like brave.  We decided to continue our drink fest elsewhere (Noble only  gave us a table limit of 90 mins.).  However, at the last minute, 1 of the sisters, decided it’s time to go home to be with her kids—no problem, I understand.  A voice inside me said, “you should go home too; but if you opt to hang out with the other cousin, so be it—don’t worry, we’ll take care of
you.”  Cool—I decided to go with my other cousin and her friend.  We headed to North Beach, specifically, the Northstar Bar and Café.  
 
We got there and I thought, cool—I love dive bars.  I took shot after shot of chilled Raspberry Stoli Vodka.  I usually can handle my vodka…but not that day, especially after a few jugs of mimosa, mind you.  The last thing I remember was walking outside, cross-eyed and chucking up ALL OF MY BRUNCH on the side of the bar. Yuck!  I know.  
 
I woke up sometime after 8 pm, fully-clothed, in a strange (but clean apartment); for a minute, I thought I was in Manila…Philippines!  What The Heck?!   I walked around the apartment a la Hangover 2 and saw it was clean, but no one was there.  Low and behold, the tenant “Greg” walked in and said “Great, good to see you’re feeling much better.”  I was like,“so I’m not in Manila?!”  He was like, “ummm, no.  You’re in my apartment in North Beach.”  So as The Hangover goes, he gave me his rendition of what happened.  He told me that my 2 so-called “friends” and I interrupted him to inform him that one of them was my cousin—he gave me a strange look.  Anyway, he told me that he was holding me up outside of the bar by the tree for 10 minutes while the 2 took off for Golden Boy Pizza.  He was so pissed off at them for leaving me with him that he knocked the pizza out of their hand upon their return.   From there, we all proceeded to go to his apartment so I could rest.  But all in all, he was the one who took care of me.  Thanks, Greg—or shall I say “St. Greg” for it took a Good Samaritan to care of me when he could have easily taken advantage of me.  Right there, I knew God had my back.

So after all of that, we walked back into the bar to inform our gentleman bartender that I was OK and that we would be heading home.  The drama didn’t stop there.  My cousin and I argued all the way to her place because I wanted to go home.  She won.  I ended up staying the night at her place, reluctantly.  I hardly slept because all I could think about was sleeping in my own bed.  

So what’s the moral of the story?!  What did I need to learn from this?!  Besides, drinking responsibly—I learned that whatever choices I make in life ARE ALL SUPPORTED and not to dwell on the past for more than 2 days; to count my blessings and appreciate all of my loved ones (blood-related or not) because the ones that do count would have taken care of me as I would have taken care of them, if placed in this situation.  But, most of all, NOT  to go out with one and/or both of these sisters unless I’m chaperoned by the rest of my loved ones. I forgive, but I will not forget as NOT to make the same mistake twice.  

So today, I went to pick up my phone at the bar and ran into Greg and thanked him for taking care of me.  I feel
GREAT now.  Until next week, I bid you all Love, Light, Blessings & Compassion.

Maria