One Moment in My Life...

Jenn from http://www.wine-n-chat.com kicked off the BlogFest party at the beginning of October, and before we knew it, we have reached the end of that month. However, that does not mean the party is over yet! In fact, I am taking you all to embark on a Journey of Life, where each of you would share One Moment in Your Life.

One Moment in My Life ...

The other day when I dropped my younger one off to the school, I saw her running toward the soccer field. Something about the way she ran … the confidence that she portrayed … as if the very air around her shimmered with happiness, as colorful and vibrant as a rainbow. And the vibration was so strong that I could feel it from miles away.

I remember thinking, “This is it. This is the moment that I have been waiting for in my entire life.” Seeing her being confident and happy … made me realize how blessed I am to be her mother.

Seems like it was just yesterday when I was holding her close to my heart, her tears dropping onto my clothes. Then, she had been facing the most challenging obstacle in her life–losing her best friend. For whatever reason it may be, her closest friends had left her behind, one by one–that was the time when I desperately wished I had a magic wand so that I could make everything fine. How I wished!

Gifted children are often lacking in social skills. Perhaps it is the way they are wired intellectually, because somehow their social skills are lagging behind–it is like the missing bits in their brains. Many parents spoon-feed academic materials to their gifted children, thinking that that is what they need the most. In turn by doing so, we have set their social skills even further apart from the other children of their age.

I could feel her pain vividly each time she was hurt emotionally by her lack of social skills. I am blessed to have a gifted child, but her happiness to me is priceless. Countless play-dates were set for her. Countless parties were planned. But to no avail. I searched helplessly each time she was hurt on how to improve her social skills. –Making friends has always come naturally to me so each time I was left clueless, uncertain of what to do. Between her close bond with her sister, her love of writing, her affectionate relationship with my husband and me, and many combinations of things we had tried, somehow she has overcome her hurdle.

Yes! She has traveled a long way. Here I am watching her contentedly as she is running confidently and happily toward her own journey of life.  This moment of my life will never fade away, for it is seared in my heart, an image carved in stone...

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

Journey to Mount Ali, Taiwan -Searching for the Sun...

Watching sunrise and sunset have always been activities that most of us love to do when we are traveling. Despite the old saying that there is only one sun in the world, and it looks the same regardless of where you are. But then, why does the sun look incredibly amazing when we are somewhere away from home?

Perhaps it is due to the setting, the atmosphere, the feeling that it has created, making us feel the difference... making us feel its beauty ...

In fact, that was exactly what we did when we visited Taiwan lately, my hubby and I were up at 3:00 AM (yes, you read it right? 3:00 A.M :-)) And it was cold out there despite being in the middle of the Summer. It was chilly and rainy outside. At 3:30 AM, we stepped outside of our hotel and guess what?! We weren't the only people, they were myriad of folks out there, young and old.

Fearing that train tickets may be sold out, we ran like crazy. As we arrived at the ticket booth and purchased our tickets, our excitements surged to the roof but worrisome seemed to creep in--we may not make it to the first train. The train didn't arrive for another hour or so, but the line was already jam-packed like our typical lines at the amusement parks, Disney Land or Disney World. Standing inside the ancient train which climbed about 2000 meters upward gave us the excitement--made it to the first train-- yet puzzling feeling --whether we would be able to see the sun in that weather.

It took about an hour or so before we found ourselves standing at the top of the mountain. To our amazement, there were already many stalls of food vendors, selling warm soup, tea, noodles and breakfast. And lucky us, we managed to snatch a good spot for our camera to snap some potential sunset photos and the indescribable scenery at that moment...

Me, buying ticket at 3:30 am in the morning

A proof that I lined up ...

Check out the crowd!

The train and I

That guy was quite an entertainer --keeping us from looking at our watch and feeling at ease while waiting for the sun to peek out ...

And the sun?

Where was the sun? The question that was asked by thousands of tourists on that day. The sun didn't manage to show her face but instead she was hiding behind those thick cloud sending the rest of us home with disappointment. Perhaps the sun had decided to play a joke on us by playing 'peek-a-boo' game... Perhaps that Mount Ali wanted us to come back to uncover more of his hidden beauty ...

Whatever the reasons might be ... I hope you enjoy this journey with me and ...

Until next stop,
Journey of Life

Looking Back at Journey of Life...

Time flies when you have fun and indeed, a year has gone by since I started blogging. From timidly stepping my feet into the blogging world to where I am here today surrounding by my friends, blogging friends and readers from all of the world.
A year ago, I wrote this very post and here I am looking back and sharing it you all over again ...

Journey of Life
Our lives are like long journeys that we don't even know when they will end. Sometimes, we don't know where they began until we've realized that we are part of the journeys. Do you think they were prearranged?

Just the thought of it, sometimes makes me chill. You meet a certain person in your life and somehow, someway, that person makes ...http://journeyofmylifendestiny.blogspot.com/2011/10/journey-of-my-life.html

And that is how it all started, how writing has brought me to where I am today among all of you, writers and readers.  How writing has filled the blank that my girls left behind --for being independent. How writing has brought me to realize that I love reading non fiction --yeah, I am weird.

I remember how excited I was when I received my first *ever* comment and encouragement from my brother-in-law, David from Random Walk. He is always there to read my blogs and comments on the topics that he found interesting. His comment are always very inspiring and refreshing. To that I am very thankful.

Then I received the first comment from Lucy from The Trans-Gentle Wife on my post, Slightly Imperfect.. She has experienced a tremendous change in her life. After reading her blog, I felt my heart was sadden but then I was anxious for nothing. She is such a strong lady and she kept on moving forward with her brave steps and she seems to be doing all right.

All of the sudden, I have discovered BlogHer and was madly *in-love* and couldn't keep eyes and hands off from my computer. I have met many fun and loving bloggers there which I still keeping in touch.And I couldn't explain my feeling when one of my blogs was featured there --My Unusual Date

Just as the party at Blogher was almost quieted down, I found Jenn from Wine-n-Chat and that was the best thing that ever happened in this blogging world. Through her, I have found many more friends in this virtual world. Jenn is the BlogFest originator and creator of The Writers' Post  She is definitely a treasure!

Then I met Sandra Tyler from A Writer Weaves a Tale. She is an incredible woman who has such a warm heart and very positive attitude and she encouraged me to write non-fiction stories. I didn't know that I could connect with my daughter all over again thru this virtual world. We wrote our first fiction together --I Believe if We Meet Once We Are Fated to Meet Again.

Thru this blogging word, I have discovered something unimaginable, something that is unbelievable --that friendship in this virtual world is at all possible. For that, let's toast for our great time and many more happy years to come.

Until next stop,
Journey of Life

Egypt's Past and Its Unknown Future ...

When I read the prompt of the day from our very own BlogFest's host, Jessie Williams of A Crazy Beautiful Disaster, Dear Past Me/Future Me. I was bit puzzled as what to write. Especially Friday is my 'travel day.' As I was constructing my thoughts, all of the sudden, my mind traveled back to Egypt to visit its past and the unknown future ...

There are still couple more places that I like to take you all to in Egypt, such as the Kom Ombo Temple where the inscriptions on the wall have proven that medical practices that are still valid today has existed since 3000 years ago in Egypt as well as the 365 days and leap years that you and I know.

On this wall, there is a proof that the calendar was invented as well as the leap years was calculated 3000 years ago

Can you spot the medical instruments?

Then there is this Karnak Temple, which is considered the largest temple in Egypt. And what set it apart from others temples and sites in Egypt is that it took about thirty pharaohs to make the temple what it is today.

The avenues of the Sphinxes

Hypostyle Hall--134 enormous columns

The Obelisk of Thutmose I, one out of four original obelisks that are still standing today

Those temples and Obelisks have represented Egypt's past glory, where the greatest civilization was once stood tall. When the archaeologist found the unfinished obelisk, they were left in conundrum. They can't understand how the ancient Egyptians were able to move the huge rock, shaped and carve it then let it standing for thousand of years. And the question --why was the obelisk was left unfinished-- still remains mystery.

 

Unfinished Obelisk

Perhaps, the ancient Egyptians wanted to leave this Unfinished Obelisk behind for their future generation to complete. Perhaps they want the future generation to unfold its unknown future ...

Until next stop,

Journey of Life