I realized that at 10:56 PM today when I officially turned 50.
So I am now halfway through life, tapping my fingers to the beat of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and realizing that I now have more years behind than ahead of me. I look back with gratitude because my first 50 years has been one heck of a ride, front, center and back.
I was blessed to be born to the most loving, closely-knit De Guzman and Delos Santos clans from Bocaue, Bulacan, where fun and laughter permeated family gatherings and where there's a lot of love and respect for one another. I was twice as blessed to discover lasting friendships that are far from being perfect but are unabashedly real and perfectly genuine. I was able to marry the love of my life and we have stuck it out through thick and thin in the last two decades. I became a mother to an amazing boy who has given us nothing but joy and pride from the moment he was born until now that he is 16.
Career-wise, I honestly never thought that I would make it this far. Ask my college best friends and they would tell you that when we were younger, my ultimate dream was to simply be a housewife. Here I am 30 years hence and I am still on a roll in my career and I don't see myself fully slowing down in the next few years because in my heart I know I still have a lot to give... and - come on - to be 50 is still young.
I couldn't wait to live through the next half of the century, gracefully and fearlessly. I still have a son to raise, a husband to love, a mother to take care of, and friends to spend precious times with.
My goal, however, is to be able to take more travels to see the world before I get too old to pack... and to live a long, happy and healthy life for as long as I can. Here's to 50 more - with a little luck, a lot of hard work, and with God's grace.
To all the very important people who helped shape my life the way it is and the way it should be, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you Mommy, I love you Daddy (keep watching over me from heaven). I love you Edgardo and Ejoy. I love you Kuya Raymund and Lon-lon. To all my aunties and uncles, cousins and the truest of my friends who are too many to mention (you know who you are), I love you for making my life much happier. It would take me a million lifetimes to forget all of you.
And to you reading this, "Thank You" and I hope that like me, you will also be grateful and happy when it's your turn to be 50.
