Don't Steal the Sheets

For the last 10 years she was used to living by herself. Sleeping in the comfort of her bed with all the pillows and the sheet she enjoys the most. Then her husband came along and she had to learn to share.

Sharing with others and letting someone into her life that was a complete stranger was so different from any experience before. Sharing her personal space 24 hours a day 7 days a week with someone who is her best friend and ultimate soul mate was a totally new experience.
It is different than sharing a bed with a sister or staying over with friends. They are someone she knew intimately since birth and accepted from the first meeting. Mostly of the same sex it seems so much more easier and they always understand.
That is until someone who is almost completely different and opposite in so many ways came along and demanded that she make the sheets for two.

A fight for the white things ensued. He suffered many cold feet.
She tried to make them for one again and again, but he knew how to fight.

“I was asleep,” she offered in defense, as he pulled the pillow back again.
The pillow it was easy, something not difficult to regain. The sheet however a much harder thing, for it was wrapped around her. There is much more to this tale, all be it much the same.

Except for one thing that solved everything and he won the sheet back again.

What is it? What did he do? It wasn’t so difficult. Everytime he got in, he tucked the sheet in.
Not into the bed, not into the mattress. No, no his only defense was to take it in his hand. It took all his strength, even when asleep. He put it also under himself, so she couldn’t get it out.
Now he has had plenty of sleep, and she has no excuse. For now if she is to steal the sheet and take it from him, she must first take it off herself.

A Cat Stuck in the Can

There was always a cat that rummaged through our rubbish bin. One day it got stuck in a small can and couldn’t get out. I tried to pull its head out of the can but I hated to see him cringe in pain. I couldn’t just leave him there, I had to save his life. I felt a little helpless because he was suffering and I couldn’t get him out. Evil thoughts came into my head. I was thinking about whether or not I should just let her die in the can? One of my friends was quietly praying and encouraging me to never give up on him saying repeatedly to hold him tightly and use all my might to pull him out of the can. We were scared that we would break his neck if we pulled too hard. I continued with a slight hesitation. Seeing him gradually losing his breath triggered me to continue trying to remove the can from his head. Unmindful of the consequences, I used both my hands and pleaded with God for help. Amazingly, I was able to do it. It was really a relief, I wondered how doctors feel whenever they are trying to save a life. I was so nervous and worried that I wouldn’t be able to save his life, but a very simple prayer did work. Somehow, I felt like I was a hero. Ahhhh, the power of prayers and I thank God for it. I saved a life, I saved the life of a stray cat.

It started at the Graveyard

The graveyard date marks the beginning of a romantic encounter. The lonely souls in the graveyard witnessed two people’s disclosure of the unexplained emotions of fondness and admiration. As he uttered these words “Your eyes are shining like stars” she just can’t understand why all of a sudden it seemed that the world stopped … and as words of adoration sings with the wind, his eyes glowed as the light slowly fades in darkness. Who would ever thought that they liked each other then, when that time she was only thinking of him as a cute guy who seem to be fun to hang around with. They were perhaps both longing for a friend or a companion maybe, and they found each other. Don’t you think the timing was just right? Oh well, no need for confirmation of it now, and the rest is history ….

Just like any story in a movie or a soap opera, the excitement of a romantic encounter wanes and there as some reality that bites. They dealt with the waning of the emotional highs and re-energized the emotional lows. They continue to learn from each other as they both struggle to understand their differences. Despite the debates and the passionate discussions on many topics, and some conflicts that seem overwhelming they’ve always managed to get back together and reconciled their differences. They both accepted their imperfections.

They were perhaps both in love. Yeah maybe because a few days after Christmas of 2005 as they both trekked the hill of his parents’s farm, they both know that they will be trekking a new path. With the fear of the snakes and inconveniences of walking through tall grasses, she managed to be not whiny about the inconveniences. It was all worth it when at the top of the hill she felt like singing the Carpenter song “Top of the World”… as he bend his knees and said “If I don’t do this now, I think I would regret it for the rest of my life, Will you marry me?” … She was speechless, and as she uttered “I don’t know what to say” tears started to roll down her cheeks and she said YES. She don’t exactly know how to describe the feeling, but it was so spontaneous, she never had the chance to think. Perhaps, God has His way of crafting beautifully one perfect moment, and she don’t want to miss it.

Photographs and Memories

Its been almost five years and as she recalled her first meeting with her husband in 2003, she never thought that about two years later their paths would cross again and would eventually traverse toward a different level of friendship. As she was browsing through old photos of a cultural event that they attended the first time they met, she wrote this poem. It was written from her memory while she was recalling the bits and pieces of their fond memories together at Japan Tent. http://www.japantent.com/

“Memories of Japan Tent”

White is the color of the shirt you wear on the first day I saw you, at Japan Tent, talking to strangers, your smile transcends beauty in the wind. Your golden hair shines like light, your pale color revealed your race.

An American maybe? Oh an Aussie and so I see… Where are you from, you asked? I replied with a smile, a brief conversation, a brief encounter, not sure if our paths will cross again.
Summer is the season, the heat echoes with warmth and joy, I saw you again, in the mix of cultures, in the mix of race familiarizing the culture of the land of the rising sun.

A few days passed, brief encounters again in places new to me, doing cultural activities some fun and as boring as can be. A frog in a blender, weird stories I cant recall, in the bus you tried to amuse me…

With host families gathered full of generosity, delightful and free, again you smiled to me and whisper, “I think the Japanese girl likes me”, astonished, I laughed quietly, a conceited lad maybe … the statement seems vivid to me, cool and free, I sigh with glee.

Brief encounters, brief conversations, brief smile, little glances, little touches … will I ever see you again ? the thought lingers …

Culturally Insensitive Me

I see her everyday. She would water her plants before noon and spend 15 minutes to meditate and pray. One morning as I look out our kitchen window, she was looking up in the east with her eyes closed pouring out a slimy thing from her hands. I wonder what she was up to. I observed her from a distance. I guess she was meditating or maybe praying and I was right. She does it everyday in front of her herbal garden. She is Indian and she is a practicing Hindu.

This kind young woman and her husband have been living in Australia for almost two years now. I usually have a brief chat with her whenever I see her. She would offer to give me a hand with my baby boy whether it be helping me with the pram or just giving my little boy a nurse. I think she is sometimes lonely, so I asked her to come for afternoon tea to have a little chat, but she never did. I was wondering why she never accepted my invitation. I thought maybe she was just shy, so I made a traditional Filipino food and gave it to her, thought she can share it with her husband. She shyly accepted it, said thank you and also apologized that she can't have it because she is vegetarian. "Oh no! you wouldn't be able to try my dish" was my quiet response. Quite embarassed, I apologized and said I would share a vegetarian food next time. She smiled and said I should not worry because her husband can eat the food I gave.

That started our friendship. She would sometimes give us Indian Curry or some Indian food. I would occassionally share with them a cake that I made or some fruits that we have at home. She started to openly share with me her experiences and her adjustments of living in a new culture like Australia. We usually have very interesting conversations as I myself have interesting similar experiences.

Her herbal garden caught my attention one day. Seeing her herbs grow beautifully, I commented about it. Politely she said, if I need some of it I shouldn't hesitate to ask. So one afternoon, I asked her if I can have some basil leaves from her garden. She was silent for a while and gave me a blank face. After a while she said "what will you use it for? Confused, I responded shyly that I am thinking of making a pasta dish and I would be needing some basil. "Are you using meat with it?" She asked politely. I said "yes". There was a moment of silence, and voila! I immediately realized that she is vegetarian so I told her that only if it is alright with her. She said that I can get anything I want from her garden except the basil. Apparently "basil" for them is a sacred plant and you can only use it for vegetarian food. She was so embarrased and very apologetic. I left apologizing badly and told myself that I will always remember to be culturally sensitive. I ended up planting my own basil. Here's a picture of my thriving basil plant.