My Unusual Date --Take 2!

Sitting literally 20 feet away --perhaps closer-- from Kobe Bryant and eating nachos--yes, the nachos that I have missed on my previous My Unusual Date and drinking lemonade away seemed a bit odd to me. But, hey! A date is a date, especially it comprised of food, drink and two of us. Right?! Who cares that we shared our date with others-- ten thousands warm bodies whose eyes were fixed at one place only--and perhaps on one person...

Kobe--waiting to do his free throw

"Do you want to go on a date with me?" He asked
"Sure. Where are we going?" I asked while busily typing away at my computer.
"Basketball." He said-purposely without much explanation, perhaps annoyed with my half attention.
"Oh ... Are we going to hit the court?" I said innocently.
He laughed--happy that he got my full attention now--and continued, "To see Kobe Bryant."
"Of course!" I nodded with smile.
"I got the ticket that is slightly better than last time --one row closer. And Kobe is playing."
"Seriously?! Cool!" I shouted excitingly
I have never seen Kobe in action, BTW.

We arrived about an hour earlier and found ourselves getting in line to get the nachos, hot dog and lemonade. I kept looking at the nachos and wanting to chow down right there but decided against it. We found our seats and the court looked incredibly close in proximity. And I told my husband that I wanted to catch the glimpse of Kobe in my camera before he arrived at the court. Just when I was about to walk away, he asked me, "Do you know which one is Kobe Bryant?
I paused and all of the sudden, I couldn't visualize his image in my mind. Oh ...my gosh, do I ? I frantically searching for his image which seemed to be buried within my complex mind. And my iPhone5 came to rescue and my answered to him --Of course dear! The truth is, I barely paid attention to basketball ever since my girls have arrived--they have pretty much occupied my life --literally. Kobe Bryant? Nay!

Caught Kobe in my camera from my seat after half time

The game started out pretty slow--well, at least, for us, the Lakers' fan. Lakers' defense was not at their best aka lousy and Warriors?  They rocked! Their shooters were so accurate--each shot ended in their basket--bringing more points to the Warriors. And soon, the points difference was in two digits closer to 20 points apart. In the last half, as if, Kobe was awaken from his dream, he finally rose to action and this was when the audiences started to feel the intense of the game. Kobe with his move and each time we could hear the microphone echoing, "Two points for the Lakers!" Just when the Lakers' fans had their hopes up, Warriors' shooters brought in more balls into their basket  and the rest of Lakers' attempt to score were pretty much void. At the end, Lakers had no choice but to limp out with 109-103 loss that could have been much worse thank to the last 3.5 minutes where Warriors went without a basket giving the Lakers the chance to bring the gap closer.

That night, Lakers went home defeated, so were their fans. As for me, it was indeed another adventure in My Unusual Dates.

Until next date,
Journey of Life

The Writers' Post Thursday Blog Hop #74 --Feathers ...

I am honored to hold a blog hop #74 for The Writers' Post. The prompt for this week is a picture prompt --feathers.

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There is this story about a boy who sometimes got angry and said whatever in his mind without thinking. All he wanted to do was to vent his anger. One by one people surrounding him was disappearing and by the time he realized it … He was left with no one. One day, he went to seek a wise elder in the woods for an advice. After attentively listening to his story, the wise elder decided to give him a bag full of feathers and advised him to go up in the mountains and let go of those feathers. Afterward, he was asked to pick the feathers back and repacked into the bag. If he could do it before sunset, all of his problem will be gone.

So the boy went and did what he was told. To his surprise, it was harder than he thought. He only managed to pick up 10% of the feathers that he let go. Most of the feathers flew everywhere and nowhere to be found. So, he went back to the elder and described what had happened. After being silent for a moment, the elder said, “Just like the feathers that you have let go can’t be retrieved; the words that you have said in anger can’t be retrieved back as well.”

A lot of time, we said things that we don’t mean when we are angry. Our only goal was to vent our anger and we don’t care about how others’ feel. By the time our anger is subsided, we have forgotten what we said. Sometimes we are lucky enough that our loved ones, and our friends would forgive us. But, sometimes things we said hurt others more than they could bear. Sometimes the words we say are like a sharp knife that leaves a deep wound and unfortunately even if we are forgiven, what we said are not forgotten.

Let’s take a moment in our journeys and think carefully before we say anything that could hurt others. There is this unwritten code in our household that goes like this, “When you got nothing better to say, please keep them to yourself!”

Now it is your turn to tell your 'feathers' story ...

Until next stop,
Journey of Life

How He Instilled the Fear in Me ...

Playa Punta Popy –Samana, Dominique Republic is the beach that will be engraved in my heart for many years to come. Why, you ask. It is a beautiful beach which doesn’t rival Magens Bay at San Thomas, but still—is unforgettable one

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“Do we really need to bring my iPhone5 with us?” I asked reluctantly as I really thought it was pointless.

“Yeah. Just in case …” My husband answered in his cheerful voice.

“But, we don’t have signal anyway.” Still being persistent—Me and persistent.

“That is okay just bring it, please.” He insisted.

The sun ray was beaming in the sky as we stood in line to board on the transfer boat. We carried some of the change clothes as well as the towels. .I stuffed in my blue wallet along with my iPhone in my beach bag. I didn’t carry much on that day, some cash, one credit card, my ID as well as cruise cards. As the security officer was done authenticating us with their systems, my husband took his card and say, “Let me carry my own card,” and I managed to slip the rest back into my wallet.

As soon as we arrived at the harbor, we were met by the people from the Minister of Tourism. “There is no public beach nearby that is decent,” said one of the guy, “but, you can grab a taxi and head to Playa Punta Popy.” He continued. As I asked my next question away, another set of family within the ear shot decided to join in the conversation. Once The head of that family finished asking his question, he turned to me and asked, “do you want to join us so we can share the cost?”
“Sure.” Without a doubt, I answered spontaneously—after all, they are from our cruise ship .

Turned out that the family is originated from Long Island and they are so amicable. Their girl and ours hit it off just like that. And us, the adults, have a lot of laugh. It took us about an hour from the harbor, Santa Bárbara de Samaná to reach Playa Punta Popy –Samana. as soon as we arrived, the girls plunged into the crystal clear water while my husband and I decided to stroll along the beach. Before I left, I wanted to bring my beach bag but then I decided against it. Instead, I was carrying my blue wallet in my hand and I stuffed in my iPhone inside the wallet.

I always enjoy time alone with my husband. And the best of all, I secretly cheered inside my heart as I would be his sole model of the day. Photos after photos and we kept on going. 

Along the road, my heart was uneasy. In fact, it was troubled for couple days and I told my husband that I was not sure why but I felt like something weird was going to happen. I worried about my mom. I wondered if she was okay. Last time, when I had this weird feeling, she was found unconscious in some foreign country.  Still, couldn’t shake the bad thought out of mind, I gestured my husband to go back, when he was wondering if we should continue walking or head back to where the girls and the family were.

As we walked back and somewhere along the path, I felt my hand was grabbed tightly. Feeling strange and thinking it was my husband, I turned around. Things happened so fast, and before I knew, my blue wallet that I had it in my right hand was snatched by this teenage boy. He ran to his accomplice, who was waiting in the motor cycle, and off they went. My husband ran after them, after I shouted, “Cruise cards!!!” Of course, it was way too late. The only regret I had was my brand new iPhone5 and my ID. There rests are merely unimportant … and more importantly we were untouched. However, down deep in my heart and little did I know that the teenage boy has left something behind... something that took me by surprise...

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As Julius Caesar once said,

 “No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.”

“Are you okay,” asked my husband.

“Yeah …”Still clasping my handbag very close to my body.

“Are you sure?” he insisted.

“Somewhat. I thought I was pretty brave, but somehow that experience, that teenage boy has instilled something in me—the fear.”

He hugged me and held my hands as we walked in to the restaurant, celebrating my birthday that was postponed from last year.

Until next time,

Journey of LIfe

The Person Behind My Success

"I don't think I can do it anymore." I said to my husband, who was walking behind me on the narrow path leading up to the top of the steep ravine on our recent hiking trip. He laughed. We both knew very well that there was nothing we could do unless we chose to camp in the wilderness. Don't get me wrong: it was a nice place--with quite stunning scenery. Many tiny waterfalls cascaded into pools of crystal-clear water, and redwood trees surrounded us on all sides. After walking for about two hours, my feet, leaden and aching, wanted to call it a day. They simply demanded a rest and perhaps needed to stretch out while in the comfort of a chair--a massage chair. Oh, how I wish, I inwardly sighed as the thought crossed my mind. All of a sudden, I felt a gentle push on my back...

That gentle push had not only sent me to the next steps of the trail but had also flung me into the tunnel of time, arriving in the year when we were traveling in China--the very year in which I had climbed the Great Wall for the first time. The Great Wall had looked so majestic and the steps extremely intimidating, especially as it had been in the middle of a freezing winter. I had been dressed in a heavy overcoat and the steps leading to the Great Wall seemed to each be towering giants--and definitely not very welcoming.

 I remembered saying, despite the fact that I had wanted to climb up it so badly deep inside my heart, this to my husband in a faint voice: "I don't think I can do it anymore". The icy wind blew across my face as if trying to synchronize with my voice. Just as I was about to give in, I felt the same gentle push on my back. The very gentle push that had gotten me going again, that had urged me to continue on. Sometimes, I had felt his cold gloved hands  reaching for mine and guiding me to the next step. And somehow, between the gentle push and his guidance, we had managed to reach the very top of that section of the Great Wall and even walked on the ruins--part of the original Great Wall that wasn't rebuilt then. 

The warm feeling trickled down into my heart, and I felt content—and even the wind seemed to be warmer. As my eyes swept across the stunning view of the Great Wall, they rested on the person standing next to me--the person who is always there for me and who is always ready with his gentle push. No matter what I do and what I want to do, he is always there for me to support me. He always makes sure that I live through my dreams.

I hope you have enjoyed this little journey of visiting the person who is behind my every success in life. And now it is your turn to tell us: Who is the person behind your success?

Dedicated to my husband on his Birthday. Happy BD my dear and many more years to come ...

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

Happy New Year ...

Listening to my girls' laughter voices have given me the drop of happiness that I have been searching for the last couple months. As I tasted this happiness, my mind traveled back to the beginning of last year. Last year was a bit rough to begin with for some reasons and not to mention the emotion roller coaster that I had ridden for the last couple months before the year end. Perhaps it was the year of the dragon or perhaps it was just one of those years. As I toughed out through out the year, I finally saw the silver lining behind every cloud.

I am thankful for all of the misfortunes that have come knocking at my soul. Because of them, I am now a much stronger person. Only through those experiences, I have come to realize how fortunate I am. After the taste of bitterness, every bit of sweetness tastes much sweeter.

Sometimes, it is hard to look beyond when unfortunate have hit us but if we do, we can see the light that is peeking and trying to reach out to us--giving us the courage, giving us the hope.

In this new year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all, my blogger friends, who have been visiting me when I was offline. I am back --as good as new :-)

May this new year bring you a healthier and happier life. And let's the writing begins!

Until next stop,
Journey of Life