When Minimum Wage Is Not

Someone finally saw unique my ability to waffle on without breathing. He saw the great potential behind it and decided he'd put it to good use. Hence, I now join the ranks of the employed, hired as a marketing newbie.

Since experience is directly proportional to price, I am paid newbie rates. But no matter. Coming from a situation where I receive a monthly allowance from the significant other, which was just enough to meet my cellular provider's most basic prepaid option, the feeling of being paid after long term dependency is akin to winning a jackpot.

There is freedom in being salaried. It may not be the same freedom as that being enjoyed by the Taipans of this nation, or by my niece who works as a successful fleet sales representative of a blue chip company that is Petron or even by the regular call center agent. But freedom is priceless no matter how limited it may be.

I can now afford to pay for a round of beer on the next bonding time with my biking buddies. I can now afford to treat my children to the occasional burger and fries at McDonald's or even a medium sized Pizza at Yellow Cab. I can now afford to pay for coffee during my mini dates with Cecille (as a fancy dinner is still a bit steep in my current category). I can now afford to get Efcie a new Duro Miner tire she badly needs.

But more than what I can now afford, there are lessons to be learned here.

I am already contented with my own goals but  to actually adopt someone's mission and vision and make it a part of my agenda makes me seriously reassess my position in the bigger scheme of things. To see the world through someone's eyes, essentially through my superior's at work, opens up my view to bigger opportunities that I never knew existed.

Important still, this new beginning promises that my writing and talking skills will be honed even more. And given that these two are my core gifts, I can not imagine myself in a much better position. To be paid for using one's gifts while being given the chance to turn it into an even bigger gift, in my view, makes minimum wage exuberant.

This is more than a case of being hired. This is, in every sense, a significant journey.

I have always wondered how it is to be a scholar, to get compensated while being trained to be the best in your field. And at age 54 I get to experience all that.

Oh The Drama!

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Right after Cecille got her prognosis, we were invited to attend a seminar on Women and Cancer in one of the best hospitals in Manila.

A lady doctor, to create presentation impact, showed photos of well known celebrities who survived their battle with the big C. Among them she made particular mention of Sheryl Crow. I would have left it at that but when she immediately added that Lance Armstrong left her as soon as he learned she has cancer, it was difficult listening to the rest of her talk.

I am sure she is not privy to the lives of this couple. Any knowledge she has regarding the split can only be speculative, if not taken from gossip. But if she was genuinely focused on cancer than on dramatics, she would have mentioned Lance as himself a survivor, a Tour de France icon for winning it several times in a row - an achievement beyond compare and which proves there is life after cancer, and finally the very one who started the Livestrong movement whose aim is to help those stricken with the dreaded disease. Then this doctor's presentation would have achieved something truly positive and consequently shower her audience with hope.

But wherever her info about the Sheryl-Lance separation came from, she got the attention she wanted. “Drama” has pulling power even when based on half-baked truths.

Sadly, in this journey me and Cecille are in, there are some we know who expect a “drama” ending. And since no “drama” is apparent, they are quietly disappointed about her progress and the total healing we already see looming on the horizon. They see weeping and moaning and dwelling on death far more interesting than joy as fruit of hope, optimism, and basking in life.

Maybe living in this broken world has made us want to search for disappointments more than hope. We remain pessimists because we do not want to be disappointed with sad endings. In essence, ironic it may be,  there are those who prefer suiting themselves up for failure than success, suffering than healing. I find this sort of attitude very self-defeating.

A close relative living in the US, whenever we talk would, without fail, air her worries about the possibility of finding herself without work next year. I am not sure if it is their way of telling me I should not expect from them any biking related items from Jenson's or Performance Bikes even if they are on sale. 

And yet, for as long as I remember, through all the recession and the economic troubles that US had, she remains connected with the same company that recruited her so many years ago, facilitated her family's permanent residence in the US, received treatment at Stanford for her type of cancer, and was able to send her children to private schools. With all the good things going for her, I wonder where all the gloom is coming from. Drama school? Perhaps.

I am beginning to think that all this talk of failure and darkness stems from the belief that indulging in it creates a sense of security, a buffer from eventual suffering. They dwell on sad endings thinking they will shed fewer tears in the event it really happens. As if talking incessantly about the bad will prevent it from actually taking place. Really?

We have inundated ourselves with so much of the bad that we have forgotten a simple fact: where we focus, where we turn our gaze, there we will go. My good friend Alex says it better: “What we are conscious of, manifests.” But since “drama”, no matter how ill its effect, is interesting so we submit. And then we complain.

Science talks of the existence of totipotent cells in our bodies that manufacture cancer cells when a person is in severe depression. With all this bad we insist dwelling on, we are essentially telling our bodies to get sick.

Then again, there is “drama” in being depressed, in being seen as suffering, in being hopeless, in being sick. In fact, I know of folks who insist they are better than the rest because they have illness more than anyone else. Please, take this cancer with you!!!!

But Cecille and I want nothing of that. We are keenly focused on hope, on ending this journey on a high note, on healing.

Without the drama.

This Is Where I Breathe

Stopping for some hydration mid way through our trail route that day, in between the panting after that last climb, I turned to Alex and heard myself saying: “Kabsat, this is where I breathe.”

No words. He just looked at me and, being there since the time I learned of Cecille's prognosis, understood what I meant.

This current journey through cancer tosses so many questions into the mix. While I chose not to be afraid, there are times when my reserve starts to ebb. This is when I gear up, fill my water bottles and head towards my favorite trail where I am sure to find my bearing, have my fill, feel life up close.

Things can get busy in there, with so many things to remember. You have to remember that before you commit, you need to define your line. You have to remember to keep your balance and momentum at all times. You have to remember to focus or else risk injury. You have to remember to stay active and loose on the bike. Importantly, you have to remember to enjoy.

The trail can yield a lot of surprises and what you think you know may end up on your face. Literally. That crest ahead may appear innocent and manageable but can, in an instant, cause your rear tire to lose traction and slide. Believe me, the aftermath hurts.

Or when on that most critical turn your fork decides to rise by itself and for a second there, lose all traction. It can cause massive panic.

But there are also times when like a little child, I let her rip. Up that berm, through those fire roads, over those ruts and roots no matter if my bottom takes a severe beating. The rush is worth it. The back side may be sore but the impish grin will always be there.

Right now I am learning to bunny hop over obstacles. I may be too late into my biking years to be trying this. Nonetheless a personal achievement considering a wrong fall can seriously hurt this soon to be 54 year old.

I think the most fun comes when discovering a new singletrack. At first a sense of hesitation but I know that as soon as I've done something once, I will be fine. And so I pedal myself into the path, rolling down several drops and then conquering the steep step-up that immediately followed. I triumphed!

Somehow I find all these encounters, specially from where Cecille and I now stand, mirror life. Just like threading into the unknown singletrack, the earlier days were filled with uncertainties and apprehensions.

But Cecille and I, in spite of the odds, chose to pedal on into the unknown and roll over what ever obstacle that will be in front of us. Our hearts know this struggle is temporary. Our hearts know we will overcome.

Someone once said what you believe about yourself and about your world is critical. I totally agree. How we see ourselves is essentially how we will see our world.

In this particular place, with all it's ruts, gnarly roots, sudden climbs and jolting drops, the believing in myself takes a renewal. It brings back my bearing, it fills my cup, it makes me feel life up close.

It is here where the seeds that makes me braver than brave grows and become forests.

It is here where I breathe.

Cancer

I love writing, I love telling my stories which is why I love this blog.

But life suddenly threw something so heavy that stumped me, broke me. Nothing made sense. It was so unreal.

October last year Cecille was diagnosed with Stage 4 Adenocarcinoma. It is lung cancer at its worst. The prognosis was severely devastating. It was life interrupted. I lost all enthusiasm to write, to tell my story.

No symptoms. One day she was healthy, the next they accidentally discovered this tumor as big as a tennis ball in her right lung and metastasis has occurred. They took tissue samples for biopsy on the nodules that has already grown on the base of her neck. It spread even to her liver.

I tried to hold on to anything that would make me understand but nothing above that which was dreadful would come. Some relatives and friends from whom I was counting for strength were the very ones insistent in finding out how soon all this will end. Some even encouraging me to start sorting our affairs, to prepare for the worst.

Cecille and I live healthy lives. We never indulge on processed food particularly those that comes in cans. We consume vegetables and fruits more than most close acquaintances. We would rather eat in and enjoy our cooking than eat out. We have no vices.

I bike till I drop while Cecille is among the few in our village who does not take the trike from the village main gate to our home preferring the good 150-meter walk.

We love life and have made it our advocacy to help those who are stricken with cancer, those with less, those just wishing to have a little more time with ones they love.

Now it is Cecille who is sick. An irony.

This person, my reason for my writing, my inspiration, my strength, is sick. I thought we were through with this sort of journey after Carmella. I thought we were done with the aches, the anxiety, the bouts with hopelessness. I thought I would never be afraid again. I wanted to be angry.

But there is so much goodness Cecille has brought into my life. She made me complete. She is my joy. 

So I chose to believe.

"Look where you want to go next, and don't focus on the rocks and bumps immediately in front of you." as one biker mom wrote in a mountain biking magazine I recently read.

“Look where you want to go next.....” Indeed, it is not about the journey, with all its struggles, but where Cecille and I wanted to be at the end of this road.

So rather than be afraid, I chose to focus on healing. Rather than be disturbed by the uncertain, I chose to look, with enthusiasm, towards our plans and hopes. Rather than doubt, I chose to believe.

Down this path, this particular gnarly single track, I have chosen my line and I have committed.

I know I will see my self through.

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As of this writing, Cecille is currently on her fourth chemotherapy session. Middle of February she will have another CT Scan to assess the progress of her treatment. Her last scan revealed that after two treatments the tumor has shrunk by 46% while most of the nodules have disappeared. We believe that come February we will see ourselves through.