"Could be anything."
"Could be anything."
When my daughter Sophia turned 18 in July, I was asked to deliver a speech. As mother of the debutante I was the bearer of the 18th peach mango pie. I was also the 17th chicken drumstick-holding dancer; the jolly mascot had the last dance.
I put off worrying about what I was going to say until the last minute. I was confident the right words would come at the right moment. I just knew I wanted to say something short, cool, inspiring—no tears or awkward pauses, thank you very much.
And indeed the words descended on me like a gift. As if on cue I had the memory of The Godinanang. There is of course no such word; it is a child’s gibberish.
When Sophia was about four or five, she had this habit of holding an imaginary bilao (a big round tray made of light native material, on which you can place any item, food or otherwise) against her hip. She would then go around the house, shouting “Bili bili na, Godinanang!” She imagined herself a peddler of imaginary wares on an imaginary bilao. Sometimes she got tired and moved the bilao from her hip to on top of her head.
Her brothers and sister used to laugh at her, but she carried on for the rest of her Godinanang phase.
More than 10 years later, at her sleepwear-themed fastfood debut party for 50 of her friends, I dredged up these memories and wished her…The Godinanang.
What was it? Who knows? It could be anything. The Godinanang meant possibilities. As much as she was able to imagine that she was selling anything on that bilao, so should she be able to know that there are no limits to her imagination and to what she can do.
My message was indeed short and cool and funny and well applauded. In fact the mascot gave me the ultimate validation: With its fingers it drew a heart across its chest and then pointed to me.
Why am I recounting an experience from six months ago? This New Year, I wish us all The Godinanang. No matter our age or station in life, imagination will allow us to dream up possibilities of what we can achieve outside of what we think constrains us.
Zzzzzz
My friends from grade school and high school had our holiday gathering at a Makati restaurant and in the middle of brunch the fellow from the next table joined our conversation.
He introduced himself as a doctor who had served 30 years at a government hospital and who was now practicing in Taiwan. He was just home for the holidays—and he was on that morning waiting to meet up with a former patient.
We thought for a while he was irritated by our stories and laughter. We wondered whether we were being boisterous and disruptive. But no—in fact he had eavesdropped a bit and pieced together our professions from our stories. He was also only genuinely amused that we could stay friend this long—and still giggle like high school girls.
He feigned surprise that we were married and/ or moms. “Why, I thought you were single!” We laughed and decided we liked him instantly.
He volunteered he knew the secret to a healthy, long life. We wondered: Laughter? Gratitude? Good relationships? The little things?
He said: Sleep.
The Internet abounds with the merits of getting the right amount of sleep at the right time, in terms of health, productivity and, temperament.
But this could be difficult given the varying nature of jobs or given the tech-inspired habits we have acquired over the years. We always know we need to sleep and sleep well, but there are just too many things that need to be done.
Still, hearing such advice from a doctor who we has seen and heard it all medically pushed us to actually make an effort to keep better sleeping hours.
If there is one other wish I can make for you, dear readers, aside from clean slates and active imaginations, then this would be it. This year and henceforth, may you sleep better—and live well!