My Sugar Free Sweet Life

Daddyjun and I went out last Valentine's Day. It was a Wednesday and we cannot use the car so we rode a taxi to and from SM Mall of Asia. We got there by 11 in the morning. I didn't like to suffer the rush of sweethearts storming the malls from the late afternoon to the evening.

We ate a hearty lunch at Juan Bambu. Nasi Goreng has become a favorite of mine these days. We also ordered Curried Mixed Vegetables and Bagnet. Pasaway talaga! I forgot all about my diet! ;p After lunch and several burps later we walked our way up to the Centerstage to watch Ghostrider. I give the movie my two thumbs up for the graphics and the humor. I found the plot too simple, though. And I would have chosen a younger actor than Nicolas Cage to play Johnny Blaze. Inside the cinema I saw lovers of all ages. Most of them had teddy bears and long stemmed roses on their hands. I find it too mushy. I threatened Daddyjun that if he bought me some of those I would force him to walk with those in his arms all the way home. I am not really a chocolates and roses kind of girl. I prefer that I be given a potted herb or I'll just spare him the trouble of buying and just ask for the cash instead. Hahaha!

After the movie, we went to have a relaxing massage at Foot for the Gods. It was really relaxing, although I didn't like the icky feeling of the mentholated oil they used on me. Plus there was an old man, a customer, whose voice was so loud enough for me to get a headache. Hmp, considering that there was a big sign outside the room that said "Silent Mode Please".

We strolled a little looking for some living room and bedroom ideas and had a snack at Sbarro's before going home. I bought some pizza and chicken to take home because we also planned to have a little celebration for Jun's birthday. Yup, it's my handy alalay's birthday, too. I told him that he should have been named Valentino instead.

By the time we got home, Daddyjun's chest was in pain. Mama Babes and I bullied him to go to the hospital at once. The night before he complained of pain on his nape. I just wanted to be sure that it's not serious and we went to the hospital to have his blood pressure and heart rate checked. Everything was normal, the doctor said it might be just stress. He was given a pain reliever and we went home and got to sleep by ten o' clock.

I'm not being mushy today. I was just thinking of what to write today and I remembered that it's Friday.

They often say that chocolate is the best happy food there ever is. That's why we often watch in movies girls eating chocolates while crying their hearts out to their girlfriends about their latest break-up. Not for me. Maybe because I know I can't eat chocolate because of my unpredictable blood sugar level.

Music for me is chocolate. I don't know about you but it's been the ultimate anti-depressant for me. I have two happy songs that I play loud on my Ipod every time I get the blues. First is "Automatic" by Utada Hikaru and "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure. These two songs lift my spirits up when I hear them. Both songs are upbeat and I can't help but dance to them.

I remember being in love with "Automatic" way back in college. I can't even understand a single word except "it's automatic" in the song because it's in Japanese. But the melody and tempo got me. Just recently, thanks to the magic of the internet, I was able to download the lyrics (with translation)of the song. It is really a happy song. It tells about the magical feeling of being in love. That the happy feeling comes automatically once you see and hear the one you love. This has become one of Rap's favorites, too along with Utada Hikaru's other song "First Love".

"Friday I'm In Love" goes way back in my elementary days. I loved it then but got to forget about it soon enough. Daddyjun's eighties themed Christmas party made me listen to it again and remember the happy days I had back then. I've had it in my Ipod since December and I have no plans of removing it from my playlist.

I included audio clips of these songs so you can listen to them. Hope it makes you feel happy as I am when I hear them.

I was browsing through my pictures folder and I saw a recent picture of me and my youngest brother, Lucky. My, he's so grown up and even way taller than me. He's seventeen now, I'm eleven years older than him. He's my original baby. I'm proud to say that mos tof my pre-teen to college years was spent taking care of him. Our mom was working so hard that time and we can't even afford a yaya. When I was in school, Ate Juliet (a cousin whom my mother was sending to college) was the one in-charge. After school I'm off to simultaneously finishing assignments and making sure he has had his dinner, cleaned up, and ready to bed by the time our mom arrives home late at night from work. He's a big part of my life. I think I'm this good in taking care of my son because I've already practiced years before with him.

Lucky was christened Louis Rafael but from the day he was born our family fondly called him Lucky. He was supposed to have a twin brother who was supposed to be named Levi. On the seventh month of my mom's pregnancy, the doctor warned her that the babies should be taken out through caesarian section. Her pregnancy at that time was already high-risk because she was already 39. Months before Lucky was conceived, my mom was into medications for the treatment of her Bell's Palsy. When my mom's tummy was cut and Lucky taken out, they discovered that Levi did not develop into a full-grown fetus and was dead. Months before Lucky was conceived, my mom was into medications for the treatment of her Bell's Palsy which could be the reason why Levi did not develop well. The doctor also found out that my mom's appendix was already infected and ready to rupture. That's when Lucky got his nickname.

But that's not the end of it. At eight years old, was already a survivor of a freak accident. I was already in 2nd year college, then. He was in Grade 3. We were already living in our house in Pasig but my siblings were still studying in Adamson Univeristy and me in UP Manila. We usually left the house at 4am, ride a jeepney to Quiapo then cross the Ayala Bridge and walk all the way to Adamson. We did that everyday. My aunt has a store near the school and the small room atop the store was converted into Lucky and Lloyd's room during the school days so they will not suffer the long travel everyday. Lloyd was still in high school, then. Before going home from school, I pass by my aunt's place to cook their dinner, check their assignments, and prepare their uniforms for the following day.

I still remember that day, while taking the long walk from UP Manila to San Marcelino St., I was already sensing something was wrong. A few steps away from my aunt's store, I saw blood on the pavement. When my aunt saw me, she cried out "Naku, nahulog si Lucky, dinala na sa ospital!". My aunt was hysterical. The xerox machine operators beside her store narrated that Lucky fell from the 3rd floor of the old building beside my aunt's store. They said Lucky was playing hide and seek with some kids on the third floor of the building and he was blindfolded. The third floor of that building was abandoned and it had no walls facing the street below. I immediately went to my mom who was already teaching her class at Adamson and went straight to Medical Center Manila.

When we got to the emergency room, Lucky was already conscious but was not in pain. He was in a state of paralysis from the neck down. The doctors already had an xray of him and told us that 3 discs of his spinal cord (C1, C2, and C3) were either cracked or crushed. We stayed for 24 hours in the emergency room before we were sent up to a room because we had to wait for him to stabilize. The doctors told us that it would take some time for him to be able to move. It was still good news for me. Lucky was lucky because he was still young and his bones are still growing.

For a whole month, we lived inside that hospital. My mom and I took turns in taking care of him. Everyday, we had to clean his wounds. He had big wounds on his head because of the fall. We also had to massage his arms and legs, turn him on his side to avoid bed sores, brush his teeth, and give him sponge baths. We had to feed him milk through a tube inserted through his nose. He still wasn't moving. Two weeks after the accident, I jumped for joy because Lucky moved his big toe. The days that followed gave us more promise because Lucky was already moving all his fingers and toes.

We moved to Medical City for another two weeks for his therapy sessions. With therapy, little by little, Lucky learned how to chew, how to strengthen his grip, and how to sit still without slouching. When his bones became a little stronger, he needed to go on therapy once a week and there was no need to stay in the hospital anymore. That meant more work for me because that meant no more nurse to help me take care of him. I remember giving him baths every other day on our garage because he still can't stand up and he had to sit on a monobloc chair while me, Kuya Erwin, and our maid gave him a bath. I think it was four months after the accident that Lucky was able to stand up and walk slowly. He was so stiff and moved like a robot. After a year, Lucky's neck brace was removed because his bones finally healed. Before he went back to school, we needed to teach him how to hold a pencil and write again.

Now, he's seventeen and graduating from high school this March. I am so thankful to God that he is still here with us, all grown-up. I still remember praying for his life at the hospital chapel on the day of his accident. Lucky is not the only one who's lucky. Our whole family is too.