After last month, one of my children will be named Winrich, Stewart, Miles, Charles, Arnold, Jelvin, Jelvin’s dad, Alfonso, or Joshua for the boys who, from the tennis court, the gym, the office, and the quiet calm of their homes, picked up their lives after a 10-second call each from my sister or I and drove to the hospital to donate blood for a girl they’ve never met before – my other baby sister, my best friend, my travel partner, my little chef who measures flour down to the gram, and, this time, my daughter, who grew up before even me and went off to make a life out of financial accounts and office-sponsored brunches in Singapore and has been in Manila a week longer than expected for dengue fever.
I am a strong believer in kindness and it has become nothing less than a mission but I have never seen so many people give their time so freely and without any question of return. Thank you, boys, for making me feel that this world is worth saving. Thank you for making the long nights being woken by nurses at 4 in the morning for blood pressure readings and calming my baby sister down with silly singing and images of balloons easy. I promise to return the favor one day, to tuck my schedule down under the carpet, turn my car around, and change my day for someone who needs my time more than I do. I feel blessed to have met each and every one of you. I feel blessed by you.
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