FOR “sentimental fools” like me, the most exciting part about Christmas is visiting home. Home is naturally Bohol – my birth place. It’s been a long time since I went home for Christmas holiday. I think Christmas 2008, if I remember right. Papa was still alive then.
Don’t get me wrong. I visit Bohol as often as I could. I only meant visiting home during the Christmas holidays. In Christmas 2008, the kids were still very young; they’re now adults! Time. It can either be our fierce enemy or our gentlest of friends. Time just passes us by.
Homecoming is both exciting and nostalgic. You get to visit places you grew up in; gather with elementary friends – prior discussions already held online; reunite with high school friends – likewise earlier planned and colleagues who became friends; join the ubiquitous reunions of families and clan – with special mention to the huge Lungay Clan of Balilihan and Catigbian, Bohol, who will hold their yearly reunion on Dec. 28, 2019; visit your folks at Victoria Memorial Park – boy, I really miss my parents! – last time I dropped by the graves was in March 2019; and just cherish the nostalgic feeling of being truly home. Just that.
On the side, I will also have a professional meeting. I must tell you it’s an exciting one and I look forward to it! I am always excited to see where God leads me every New Year. It’s actually a yearly adventure for me. It’s been like that since 2010. God directs me to a new place and I just go. Hence, I get to meet new people and build new friendships.
How do you think I got this column, huh? It’s because I followed the direction God set in late 2018. That’s how delightful my journey is. Everything is new. It’s just as well since I easily get bored, laughs! Sure, there are challenges along the way but they’re miniscule compared to the greatness of the adventure.
For me, life has always been an adventure! So thank you Lord for the series of adventures.
***
I can’t possibly let the season pass without writing about my best friend Emcy Ingking Ytol’s cakeshop daintily called “Sweet Things”. It all started as a hobby which by 2014 became an elegant cakeshop located in the heart of Villanueva, Misamis Oriental. Presently, “Sweet Things” has branched out in Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City.
Emcy has a passion for baking cakes. For several years now, she has baked cakes in the heart of her home. Home is wherever her heart is. It could be in Cebu, Bohol, or Misamis Oriental or all of those places combined together! This Christmas alone, her #SignatureUbeCakes are invading Tagbilaran City (capital city of Bohol) with prior orders from friends and new customers alike!
Friends who have tasted her yummy cakes become followers. That’s because she makes certain that her cakes are of impeccable quality and taste. She is mindful of comments and praise. For her, baking cakes is serious business. It is a continuous learning process. There is still so much to learn and new paths to explore where baking cakes is concerned but Emcy is undaunted. In fact, she is very excited about 2020, just like me!
She celebrated her birthday this December and here’s what I wrote for her: “It was in Grade I when I first met this lady – girl back then. We had plenty of fun while in Grade I. You can ask Ma’am Lucy – her mom, about it. By Grade II, I couldn’t find my playmate anymore. I wondered where she went. Then we transferred residence and I never heard about her anymore. Wasn’t that sad?
High school passed but we didn’t cross paths again. Can you imagine that? And we lived in one small city! In college, I met her future hubby, who was then “crush ng city”, haha! Little did I know that the “crush ng bayan” was the boyfriend of my Grade I friend! What a small world!
Finally, our paths crossed again in college. But it was short-lived because she had to go someplace where young people like us had no guts to go!
From then onward, we met here and there, until on the next chapters of our lives – this time with kids, she with the college boyfriend-turned hubby had settled in Cebu, I became a regular fixture in their home because of work and lacuacha!
The story is long and colourful. I can write it into a book, and it will sell like her #SignatureUbeCakes! But for now, Happy Birthday Ems. Thank you for being my friend and sister.”
Check out her cakes at https://www.facebook.com/emcy.ingking.ytol/.
***
Christmas Wishes: I want to wish all my loyal readers, followers, and admirers (smile), a wonderful and one-of-a-kind Christmas celebration! Don’t be afraid to try new things. Be bold! Be brave! Be daring! May God bless us all!
***
For comments, you may reach the writer at belca.87@gmail.com./PN
