All things bright and beautiful Santa Isabel was just two blocks away from the house, every day my nanny would pick me up from school to take lunch at home. She carries a huge umbrella to keep the sun. But I like walking on the sunny side of the street. So, I can play with my shadow prancing the street. I like to hip hop hippity hop on the way home. I am most happy to see Granny and have lunch together. When there is rain, dancing and singing under the rain is fun. On the way home from school, puddles of water litter along the streets. I would stop by and wonder, would there be a fish? Perhaps, a tiny little one?
Growing up seeing all things bright and beautiful kept me through life’s stresses and challenges. In fact, I never realized or so the thought of a problematic life. After all, seasons change. The turmoil in life are accidental to life’s goodness and blessings. I lived in a region surrounded by mountains. It was like a basin that captured much humidity and rains in the afternoon. Typhoon would always come by. Trees are sometimes torn and swayed. But, it bounces back to life and beauty.
The ancestral house was huge with cascading windows covering one side of the house. It gives a magnificent view of the skies, clouds, sun or watch the heavy downpour of rain. Every drop of rain looked pretty on the glass. Raining, I would often sit by the window and wait for the rain to stop. It was something i always cherished doing. A big and beautiful garden means having all the critters, cicadas, caterpillars, bugs, beetles, bees, butterflies, birds and frogs too, getting wet and cold makes them all loud. It makes me excited to hear them. Miniscule streams of water gather and make puddles.
Then all these make their way to the grass covering the lawn. Thinking about the critter friends in the garden who get wet, hungry and cold in the rain, hoping they would find a warm and comfy place to rest. I worry and ask my grandaunt, will they be alright. she would assure me that they too will be fine.
Positivism does not mean being merry and detached from facts of daily life rather it is a grounded sense of optimism. Neither frivolity but seeing all shades of life. Terrible typhoons bring us together. In the dark, a burning candle draws everyone to the light. Gathered, silently listening to the howling wind, roaring thunder and the hishing lighting. At home, warm, safe, comfortable and provided with food and shelter, my grandma will say a little prayer, a wishful thinking, a bridge of hope for those who may be in the most difficult conditions. Learning how to bear things and wait for the storm is over is a worthwhile lesson for every typhoon that passes. Waiting gives renewed meaning to time. the importance of time, what to do when you have time by your side.
Sometimes, I am awake as the course of the storm passes through the night. It teaches patience. Living in a glass house gives you a view of how fierce the temper of nature can be. It helps to be still and open wide your senses. Then we begin to be mindful of everything around us. Granny, my grandmother’s sister had a collection of huge fruit bearing trees at home. At the end of every storm, its funny how their crown looks like. They seem to look like women with disheveled hair. The last tree standing is badly bruised but not broken. But none of them was uprooted from the ground. The wisdom of old trees savoured in the moment that life is beautiful. Down trodden with water plants and trees are weigh down torn for awhile then burst back with fresh green. There are difficulties and troubles that comes along with triumphs and successes in life. The possibility of change is that change is possible, you are never down all the time or up most of the time as dusk is to dawn. The orientation towards the future. Of moving forward. Its about sunrise. A few mornings after the rain, all the critters begin their chattering reign. The chorus begins.
All things are bright and beautiful not because life is perfect but made perfect.
Maria Lourdes de Vera
