Today, I made a trip down memory lane & brought the fam along with me as I visited my old house in East Harvard, Glendale!

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When my parents eventually separated from what was a very unhappy marriage for convenience (not arrangement, it was for convenience. Both medical doctors, they found themselves still single at a ripe age, so they decided to get married & start a family), my mom took us to New York & we lived there for a year with my uncle who was a physician, his American wife, and America-born-and-raised daughters, while my Mom took her review for the medical boards. I was 9.

Living with relatives is difficult, especially when they have families of their own & customs and traditions so much different from yours. The huge house & the warm welcome wears off after a while & suddenly it’s too cramped for 2 families to live together. Iba ang ugali ng pga puti.

So after a year, we moved to Los Angeles where my mom bought a duplex house in Glendale (one we lived in & the other she rented out for income, since she temporarily stopped practicing medicine while reviewing for a license to practice abroad).

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Childhood, a part of life that is supposed to create beautiful memories. Although mine didn’t pan out the way I would have wished, I’m happy my kids’ childhood memories were much much better.

My house (L) vs. my ‘hood (R)

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She worked on our immigration papers & I was resigned to living in the U.S. for the rest of my life. It was there that I had a semblance of what a home should be, albeit living with a female-led environment with my widowed amah & newly separated mother.

Since birth, I lived in a 4-storey hospital which was the family business (my parents were both ambitious & goal-oriented, accomplished doctors). It was here in this very spot in Glendale that I figured out what living in a house feels like. Finally nakakita ako ng kusina! At age 10, I also saw the normal family dynamics from my neighbors & friends’ families – may tatay at may nanay na nagmamahalan. Home.

I prayed hard. Really really hard. I asked God to also give me a family & a home filled with love & laughter. That’s all I asked for with all my might, and with all my heart. I said, dear God, if you can give me one thing & one thing only, then I ask for a soulmate who can fill my heart with indescribable joy & everlasting love.

That money buys you happiness is a myth. Only God can fill your soul with what you need most. For me, it’s the love of a family.

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I sustain myself with the love of an amazing God, and my beautiful, wonderful family. <3

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Another year passed, my dad had a heart attack when I was 11. Mom sold the house & we came back home to care for him. Good thing too because Philippines is where I found my “home”. God gave me Kap at age 16 and since then, my heart became healed & complete. I found my happiness, my true home.

Now, a little over 40 years when I made a fervent prayer, wherever I am, it’s Home for as long as I’m with this bunch. What was just a dream for a 10-year old girl became a reality for this 50 year old wife & mommah.

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Being a family means you are a part of something wonderful. It means you will be loved for the rest of your life. I didn’t know it then, but I’m so very glad I know what family is now.

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Lord God, I cannot thank You enough for giving me the loves of my life. My true happiness. I am eternally grateful. #dreamsdocometrue #happywifehappylife #familyislove

Do you also have a fervent wish? Just keep praying! <3 God works in mysterious ways. It took years before I got my answered prayer, but no matter the time (and distance), what’s important is, IT CAME TRUE. So don’t get tired of asking & believing. Because God made YOU a promise..

Psalm 37:4 New International Version (NIV)