WHAT TO DO WITH PARTYING PARENTS?

The last three months have been quite eventful for me.  Get-togethers, reunions, parties and of course, events. I haven’t been out like this in a loooong time.  My social life these past couple of years have been largely limited to lunch dates, chats over coffee and dinner.  I feel like I’m back in college again! Party and dance ‘til the morning light, OMG! 

The thing is, my kids and their friends also go hang in pretty much the same strip where we go to, so when we go around, we kind of bump into each other.  And NOT really to their delight. Iloilo is still a small place even with all these new places popping up like mushrooms.  My friends and I sometimes bring our kids with us when we go out so they could all have their time together while us parents do our thing. This is the scenario: we’re upstairs and they’re downstairs, having iced coffees and sweets while fiddling with their I-pods and i-pads.  And once in a while they would burst upstairs to ask, “Are we going home yet?”  Most of our kids are in their early teens and the usual answer they would get is “NOT!”   It’s like when they were small and when we would go on long drives they would keep asking “ Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”  Now, that’s funny!

Oh, there are definitely big changes between the then and now.  When we used to go to Tivoli (that’s the “IN” disco place then), we would drink and dance ‘til we drop and puke all over.  Now, we would have a couple of watered down drinks – meaning with lots of ice in it – and tons of bottled water after that.  Then feel that we are already dead drunk.  And they don’t call it discos now.  They’re clubs.

I sometimes get that look from my kids when I’m all hyped-up and dancing to ‘80s music.  That look that could be a lot of things which I don’t feel like mentioning (LOL) but I’m sure a lot of parents could relate to what I’m trying to say here.

Is it wrong to be having fun at this age? Wrong to poke through the past and relive the fun we had when we were also in our teens?  NOT!!!!

More on the Big Bang 4-0!

A few more hours and that would be that.  I would undeniably be 40.

The past week has been extremely distressing. Not only because of the impending doom that I see which is my birthday, but also because I have been pushing my body too much to act like it still is in its twenties. The weekend before was Dinagyang weekend and I was so into the spirit.  Four nights and 3 days of partying and activities left me a wreck.  Physically, that is.

I’ve been thinking that even if I did not look forward to turning 40, still the big day should be a cause for celebration.  But after last weekend, I just didn’t have the energy.  I think I now have what they call adult-onset asthma, though I would still have to confirm this with an MD next week.  I’m taking anti-bacterials again because I ate talaba last Tuesday and I think I’m coming down with a cold.  What a way to commemorate my 40th year.

But after much thought, I decided I would celebrate my 40th.  Not tomorrow and not in a grand way.  But I certainly will.  Probably a month from now to give myself more time to digest the fact that there is no elixir for eternal youth. It’s just so freaky when so many things happen all at the same time and they don’t generally go in harmony with your idea of how things should happen and how they should be. 

If they say the 40s is now the new 30s, then that thought is a little comforting.  I’m still allowed to keep my age below par ha-ha!  I’m sure that would help a lot in easing my anxieties.  I’ve always said, anyway, that I’ve stopped counting when I turned 30.  It’s one way of evading the issue.

So, here’s to me, to new beginnings, to another chapter of my life.  I wish myself the power to accept things to be and wisdom to put them into good use, an existence that is more meaningful and the patience to understand the whys of life. And more importantly, I wish myself a life that is full of life.  Cheers and happy birthday to me!

Big Bang 4-0!

I have been preparing myself for the historic event that’s going to happen real soon.  Apparently, I haven’t prepared myself enough.  In a few days’ time, I’ll be celebrating my “big bang 4-0th” (as a friend has aptly called it) birthday.  I am terribly dreading it. All my other friends have accepted the inevitable, but me, I am not just ready. NO, NO, NO!!!!

Surely a lot of people find this strange.  As I go along, a lot of you could (and I hope, would) relate with me.  Then it wouldn’t seem so strange after all. 

When I turned 37, I began experiencing slight physical changes, which bore an ominous note of things yet to come.  My hormones began acting up and I experienced horrible, debilitating migraines.  Probably SLIGHT is too tender a word to use here.  I thought I was a little young-ish to be dealing with the word hormones.  Think again. It was right there staring at me in the face and doing a little jig!

Then came my eyesight.  I have always had poor eyesight.  But the moment I became 39, I felt my eyes had minds of their own.  Sometimes I’m nearsighted, other times, farsighted. Ano ba talaga, ate?!?

Before, I would eat a tub of oysters and could still afford to eat ice cream right after.  Now, a plate of oysters equal to a regimen of anti-bacterial.  For that matter, I could eat anything then and not feel anything.  No squeamishness, no nausea, no grumbling stomach.

When I went to see my dermatologist recently, she gave me the real deal.  Those sunspots aren’t going anywhere. In fact, they just came from the Garden of Eden and have been told to multiply!

I feel like my body is totally rebelling against me.  And here I am, still searching for the proverbial elixir of youth…..

More to come before the big day comes!