looking back, looking ahead

the past few days held a lot for me, a lot of chances for gratitude. there was just no day during the past week that i was not filled to the brim with reasons to be thankful for.

i do not know what have held for you those past few days. perhaps, it has been an easy week, maybe even a hard one, or still maybe a mix of both. and i am sure, like me, you look back to those days all over again, and wonder if you did enough, tried hard enough. . .and then you look ahead.

so today, i pause for a moment and take a deep breath.  it is definitely time to remind myself that life is not about doing, rather, life is about loving. because i know, the kindness i get from family, friends and strangers, are the kindness i give out in the first place.  it comes back a hundred-fold!

during the weekdays last week, my doctor cousin, manay ernie, flew in from michigan with her team of medical doctors and did a medical mission in the city next to my town.  they do this almost every year, sometimes, more than once a year.  so while she was waiting for the other doctors to fly in, she gave me a visit at the farm where we had our customary lunch when i serve the day's harvest, cooked the way we locals do.  

 what a wonderful sight it is to behold how she and the rest of my guests were savouring each and every morsel of the food on their plates. bwahahaha!  seconds have to be served soon enough.

as we stayed on till the afternoon, i had pido, my farm help pick some sweet corn and serve them boiled, sans any flavourings or condiments, the sweetness of the newly harvested corn was enough to drive you to get more cobs.  bwahahaha!  

though i have had enough of corn to last me a year's cravings, i could not help myself from getting one cob, induced by the sight of them with so much gusto!  it was dark when we left the farm. 

the next day, manay ernie brought her friends to visit my gallery and shoppe.  that was a surprise treat for me! of course, i believe in the novelty and worth of my arts and crafts, but when they were filling in their baskets with everything they could have their hands on at the shoppe, there was this pervading sense of excitement and joy in me. what a validation!  not that i need one!  i believe in what i do. bwahahaha!  

my F.A.R.M. stuff were just the gifts they want to bring home and give to their friends and family. 

and when i told them about the story behind it, the advocacies i stand up for, the more they wanted to have my beautiful creations.

the next night was as busy. manay ernie, again, brought some of her friends and they were as frantic to buy the goods as the first batch.
the experience made me do some thinking.  why were these people so kind and nice to me?  well, it is okay that manay ernie is nice to me, we are cousins!  bwahahaha! (though i could not say that about the rest of the kind.  bwahahaha!)

and it led me to thinking, and believing that what i get from them, their kindness and enthusiasm, not to mention their generosity, their patronage and support, that could only mean one thing: that i have reached out in kindness, too - offered a smile, gave a hug, listened, helped, comforted, supported and encouraged - and they are returning what i did and do!

so now, as a farmer and a F.A.R.M.er, i know this for sure: what matters most is not the clean kitchen nor the completed project. not the list of goals neatly checked off,  what matters most is the loving, because am loved in return. maybe not by the same person i love, but definitely returned.  and life is good.

thank you!  ilysm!  ♥ ♥ ♥