Tag: personal

While under home quarantine the past week, my wife has been urging me to get up and bask in the morning sun. While I know of its benefits (Vitamin D, increase in seratonin levels, etc.) I did so grudgingly because I still wanted to sleep.

Lately however, I found myself enjoying it.

Today, shortly after our morning bask, I wondered aloud to her, “What will I write about for tomorrow’s column?”

“Write about the sunlight,” she said.

So here I am, on her birthday, writing about sunlight, but perhaps not quite as she meant it.

Those who know her are aware that she loves to sing, and she sings well. One of her signature songs is Kevyn Lettau’s “Sunlight” which she can perform at the drop of a hat.

The lyrics say that I am her sunlight, but to those who really know us, she is more often the sun while I am the moon. She has a strong, take-charge personality while I am more laid back and relaxed. She likes to work during the day, while I, much to her consternation, like staying up late at night.

For a person like me who likes the cold, it’s not comfortable staying out in the sun, and it’s not comfortable either when we have heated arguments and her words are hot and glaring because they are the hard truth. But of course, there are also moments, more of them, where the words are warm and gentle, like a welcome ray of sunshine on a cold morning.

It is a common misconception that the sun gives Vitamin D, as if the sun’s rays magically contain the vitamin and infuse it into our bodies. What happens, rather, is that it is our skin that produces Vitamin D when exposed to a certain ultraviolet light from the sun.

And so when I reflect on our relationship, this is what has happened to me. Her light has made me develop my own strength. She has not overpowered me with her voice but made me find my own.

Maybe the analogy is wrong. I am not so much the moon as I am a solar panel, absorbing her energy, but also very much capable of producing something else out of it instead of just reflecting the light. But saying you are the sun and I am a solar panel is not quite so romantic.

Anyway, happy birthday, my sunlight.

Email me at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.

Christmas and New Year are 7 days apart and these days are usually the most festive and joyous occasions of Filipino families. Relatives and friends come home, schools hold reunions; food and drink are plentiful; there are parties left and right, and people indulge in the warmth of friendship, laughter and good conversation.

Yet in the midst of these there are those who still experience pain and sorrow. I was sad to hear the news of two women I knew from Toastmasters who passed on. One on Christmas day, and the other on New Year’s Day. They were two of the gentlest and kindest women I knew.

Vicky Leuterio was the founder of the Holy Child College of Davao. I was in my twenties and had been a Toastmaster for around 3 years when I met her. Their school had just formed a new club and were always on the lookout for guest Toastmasters to come help and mentor them. It was an honor for me that a woman of her stature and achievement would take tips and evaluation from someone half her age, with no hint of arrogance and resentment whatsoever.

Even later, when I felt I had done something to offend her, I sought her out to talk to her. The apology was hardly out of my mouth when she smiled and said, “There’s no need to apologize. It’s not your fault.” That was Vicky — ever gracious and with a big heart.

Winda Casiano is one of my oldest friends in Toastmasters. We were neophytes and charter members together of the Davao Noontime Toastmasters Club. She made her mark as a humorous speaker from her very first speech, which was about introducing oneself, but she soon made it an advertisement for her sporting goods store, and she even advertised her siblings’ professions in case we would need their services. That speech had us all in stitches, and I still remember it to this day. She eventually competed and became our Humorous Speech Champion.

Winda was the first treasurer of our club, but she found herself constantly re-elected to the position, showing the huge amount of trust people had in her. She also served in various positions over the years — as President, Area Governor, then Division Governor.

She was warm and hospitable, inviting us often to her home for impromptu fellowship sessions. We in turn, invited her into our hearts as a second mother, a confidant, a friend.

The Toastmasters world has lost two champions, and we grieve and are one with their families in suffering their loss. And also, we are thankful that their lives and ours have crossed paths, that we have shared many happy and meaningful moments — and that brings us joy and peace.

Vicky and Winda, you fought the good fight and did not go gently into the night. Rest now, my friends.

Email me at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.