Hello dear hivers! How are you today? I spent a very long day yesterday and I believe it’s worth sharing with you.
It’s graduation season here in the Philippines so most celebrations I have attended on this last week of May is all about celebrating graduates. We attended Ikay’s Summer clinic graduation and Kuya Dale’s Post Grad degree grad. Celebration.
Ikay is my cousin who has lived with us since she was five years old. She seemed like my younger sister because I support her studies and provide all her needs while my mom takes care of her. Last summer, my boyfriend and I enrolled her into a taekwondo training so she can get moving a bit. We also wanted to reduce her gadget screen time and let her learn how to socialize. That one-month training made her love taekwondo, so we continued enrolling her on a monthly training program. Time flies fast, it feels like it was just yesterday when we first enrolled her but now, she’s already graduating on her 2nd summer clinic taekwondo training in her team -Dipolog Kick Station.
Yesterday marked her 2nd year anniversary as a taekwondo jin and we couldn’t be any prouder. Fortunately, their graduation falls on a Sunday, so we were all able to witness her last day of training and graduation.
We went to their multi-purpose gymnasium a quarter before 9am. During the morning session, they all had their kata performances. During lunch break, they all lined up and sat behaved at their respective tables prepared by the catering services. For the afternoon session, we were all thrilled to witness their friendship tournament. Ikay was so happy to be matched with her bestfriends – Jasmien and Hazel. Jasmien is her classmate in school and Hazel is a friend she made during her taekwondo training. Her first match was against Jasmien. It was a funny match because they were so close that they haven’t imagine being rivals so in the middle of their match, they both bursted into laughter as they couldn’t take it seriously. After another round, Jasmien was replaced by Hazel. During Hazel and Ikay’s match, Ikay cried a little when she got hit around her neck but still chose to continue to fight when she saw us cheering for her. We’re so proud of them because despite grasping for air, they managed to finish the match both having same points.
Right after graduation, we went to the arcade to treat Ikay, my tita, niece and her other siblings. We then dropped them home and proceeded to my bf’s home to attend also the master’s degree graduation celebration of my boyfriend’s younger brother – my kuya Dale.
My boyfriend’s home was like a second home to me because I used to live there when I worked in a university near their house. I lived with his family for four years before going back into our home since I also transferred into a workplace nearer to us.
Before visitors came, I just visited my favorite spot in their home, their fishpond. I’m surprised about the sizes of the Kois, they were already big. I remember, my favorite chore back then were feeding them. Our visit made me reminisce about all the good things I had in their home. I am forever grateful for their warm welcome and for making me feel at home.
At 6pm visitors came, and we all celebrated the hardwork of Kuya Dale. We were extremely proud of his achievement and perseverance knowing that he managed to finish his masters in just two years. He even submitted his thesis manuscript for publication. He is such a gem so I hope his workplace may grant his long-desired promotion. We all enjoyed the food and even had a karaoke session.
As much as we wanted to spend the night at their home, we just couldn’t because my boyfriend’s room was still in renovation. So, at 10pm, we bid goodbye to his family and other visitors and drive home. His mom and brother were so sweet to even pack some food for my mom, Ikay and dogs at home. He was thankful that we attended his celebration despite being busy. We told him we couldn’t afford to be absent from his celebration because we knew that it’s a milestone worth celebrating for.
In life, we all get to decide how we are going to use our time. Time is gold so be wise in spending it. In our case, we make sure to spend our weekend off on any work-related tasks. It’s for family. We already learned our lesson after experiencing burn-out so from now on, we always make sure to get work-life balance. We also make sure to be present as long as we can because we never know how our simple presence can uplift someone.
If you reached this far, thank you so much for reading my lengthy post. See you on my next posts. God bless!