Carrots, Eggs or Coffee

Grandmother says... Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee; "Which are you?"

A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft.She then asked her to take an egg and break it.

After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked. "What's the point,grandmother?"

Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity--boiling water--but each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her granddaughter.

"When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?

Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?

A Dozen Pairs of Shoes by Luis Gatmaitan

My father was a shoemaker. Shoes made by him were really famous in town. A lot of people would come to us to have their shoes made. From what we heard, my father’s shoes were so much better than the shoes made in Marikina. They were durable, the workmanship was really excellent, and their designs, truly creative!

“Where on earth do you get your ideas for those styles? They’re sooo pretty!”
“Looks like the muse of shoes and soles comes and visits you…”
“You must have magic in your hands!”
With all these praises, my Tatay would only half smile. He was a quiet man. He rarely ever spoke.

I grew up amidst all the many shoes my father made. My friends and classmates often wished they were in my shoes. They said I was lucky to have a shoemaker for a father. Why, I always had a new pair for every occasion – school opening, Christmas, my birthday, or when I was awarded class honors in school! My Tatay even made me extra pairs of shoes from left-over leather and fabric. “I wish I were you, Karina. You always have new shoes. Me? I get hand-me-downs from my ate. I only wear the shoes that don’t fit her anymore,” complained one of my classmates.

I was in the second grade when my mother became pregnant again. We’d waited so long to have another baby in the family. My lola said that their prayers – for me to have a kid brother or sister – had been answered.
“Oh, pretty soon I will have someone to share my shoes with. But that’s okay, I know my father will always do enough shoes for both of us.”
When the baby was still in my mother’s tummy, I heard my mother and my father talking.
“I just had my check-up. My doctor said our baby is going to be a girl!”
“That’s great! If she’s a girl, we’ll have her take up ballet lessons. I’d really like to have a ballet dancer in the family! From now on, I am going to start learning how to make ballet shoes,” Tatay said.

But not all of my fathers’ dreams could come true. When we saw my baby sister for the first time, we were all so shocked. She had no feet! It was as though her feet had been cut off!
The rumors began to spread. Because my sister was sort of deformed, people were saying a lot of nasty things. Some said maybe my mother tried to get rid of her that’s why her body parts were incomplete. Or my mother might have taken some harmful pills and those pills melted my sister’s feet. Or the shoe spirits cursed my father because he raised the prices for his shoes. Or maybe my mother had an unusual liking for a doll while pregnant.

“Nanay, why doesn’t Susie have feet?”
“I had this infection, anak…I caught German measles while your sister was growing in my tummy. And well…the effect was that…” my mother narrated sadly.

My sister will never be a ballet dancer then. Tatay will be very disappointed. I had this thought every day, every time I’d see Susie without her feet. That’s why I decided to persuade Nanay to enroll me in a ballet school even if I didn’t really like ballet. But…
“Ma’am, why don’t you have Karina take up piano instead, or maybe painting, or enroll her in a banduria class?” my ballet teachers suggested to my mother.
I really felt very let down. Not for myself but for my Tatay and Susie, and for all the elusive dreams that could never come true.

I felt and saw how my father and mother loved Susie. They were always ready to keep her from harm. Once while we were on a picnic at the park, there was this guy who saw Susie.
Pointing at Susie, he said, “Hey, look! That kid will make a good freak show at the carnival!”
My father turned red. He clenched his fist. That was the first time I ever saw his eyebrows meet. He almost hit the guy.
“What’s your problem?”
A good thing my mother stopped him just in time.
While in bed one night, I heard Tatay talking to Susie.
“Anak, feet or no feet, your Nanay and I love you very much. You are special in the eyes of God. What’s important to us is that you grow up to be a good person, believing in yourself.” He kissed her warmly.

Father never stopped making shoes for me. But I could tell that each time he measured my feet, his eyes drifted towards my sister’s crib.
“Too bad bunso, you have never known how it feels like to wear the beautiful shoes our Tatay makes…” I whispered to her.

Susie and I were really close as we grew up. It never mattered to me that she had no feet. That never stopped us from playing together. We found a lot of games that didn’t need the use of feet, anyway. She always beat me in sungka, jackstone, scrabble and pitik-bulag. I took it upon myself to be her defender from all teasers. Her wheelchair pusher. Her ate assistant!
That was when I realized my sister and I were alike in so many ways. We were both better with our hands than with our feet. I was good in painting. And she was good in writing stories. And oh, our Tatay was also good with his hands!

Susie once woke me up to tell me about her dream: About a most unusual pair of shoes that looked so good on her feet.
She has fee in her dream? I wondered to myself.
“Believe me, Ate, I dreamed of a beautiful pair of shoes. It’s made of yellow patent leather adorned with sunflower up front!”
That was when she was about to celebrate her birthday. What I noticed was, whenever her birthday was drawing near, she would always dream of shoes.

“Ate, I dreamed of another pair of shoes. It’s made of red velvet with a big side buckle!”
She also told me about the open-toed blue shoes with her own toes peeping through. The white shoes with tiny heels and red bow. The denim shoes embroidered with the moon and stars. The sandals that looked like a fishnet. The purple shoes with a round crystal attached near the toe.
It never ceased to amaze me at how she could remember even the tiniest detail of the shoes in her dreams – the flowers, ribbons, buttons, sequins, beads, or buckles. And she thought of these shoes like they were her very own.

“Ate, when I grow up, I am going to write a story about all the shoes in my dreams. And you’ll draw them for me, okay?”

After a few years, my father retired from making shoes, except for the orders from the suki he simply couldn’t refuse. When he celebrated his birthday, my gift to him was one of my paintings – a pair of heavily veined hands making shoes. Susie gave him a small music box with a ballerina.
“You made your father very happy,” Nanay said.

Shortly after that. Tatay became sickly. Susie was twelve when finally he left us all for good.

One day, I happened to wander to the bodega, looking for old shoes that could donate to the orphanage. While searching, I found a box that looked as though it hadn’t been touched for sometime. Opening it, I found several small shoe boxes neatly piled on top of each other!
Who owns these shoes? Are they undelivered orders? I asked myself.
But when I looked closely at all the shoes, I was startled. They were my father’s best creations in wonderful designs. And they came in different sizes. There was a pair of baby shoes. Baptismal shoes. Leisure shoes. School shoes. Church shoes, Party shoes.
I was even more startled when I read the dedication written on a small tag.

For my dearest Susie,
On her first birthday

I peered inside the boxes one at a time. Every single pair of shoes was for Susie. My father had been making shoes for Susie all this time!

For Susie, joy of my life,
As she celebrates her seventh birthday

Year after year, my father never missed making a pair of shoes for Susie on her birthday. One dozen shoes all in all!

Specially for my dearest bunso,
On the occasion of her twelfth birthday.

I burst our crying when I saw the shoes. I hadn’t realized till then how deep Tatay’s love was. I brought the twelve pairs of shoes to my mother and Susie.

“I had no idea that your father had been making shoes for you, Susie,” tears formed in my mother’s eyes. “He kept it a secret from me…”
“A-Ate, these are the shoes I dreamed about…” Susie couldn’t believe her eyes as she caressed each shoe.
“Oh?!”
Suddenly, I remembered all the shoes that Susie had described to me in the past.
Yellow patent leather shoes with sunflower up front. Red velvet shoes with a big side buckle. Blue open-toed shoes with her own toes peeping through. White shoes with tiny heels and a red bow. Denim shoes embroidered with the moon and stars. Sandals that looked like a fish net. Purple shoes with a round crystal near the toe.
In my mind I thought, did my father’s love cross over, reaching out to Susie’s dreams so she could wear the shoes he made for her?
I am not sure.
What I am sure about is that, life isn’t perfect. Just look at the way my sister was created. But there are perfect moments. Like the moments when my father created the most beautiful shoes for Susie.

Another LOVE story.....

Once upon a time there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all the others, including Love. One day it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean. So all the feelings prepared their boats to leave. Love was the only one that stayed. She wanted to preserve the island until the last possible moment. When the island was almost totally under, Love decided it was time to leave. She began looking for someone to ask for help.

Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat. Love asked, "Richness, Can I come with you on your boat?" Richness answered, "I'm sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there would be no room for you." Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was passing in a beautiful vessel. Love cried out, "Vanity, help me please." I can't help you", Vanity said, "You are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat." Next, Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said, "Sadness, please let me go with you." Sadness answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be alone now." Then, Love saw Happiness. Love cried out, "Happiness, please take me with you." But Happiness was so overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling to him. Love began to cry.

Then, she heard a voice say, "Come Love, I will take you with me." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arri ved on land the elder went on his way. Love realized how much she owed the elder. Love then found Knowledge and asked, "Who was it that helped me?" "It was Time", Knowledge answered. "But why did Time help me when no one else would?", Love asked. Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

The Pink Dress

There was this little girl sitting by herself in the park.

Everyone passed by her and never stopped to see why she looked so sad.

Dressed in a worn pink dress, barefoot and dirty, the girl just sat and watched the people go by.

She never tried to speak.

She never said a word. Many people passed by her, but no one would stop.

The next day I decided to go back to the park in curiosity to see if the little girl would still be there.

Yes, she was there, right in the very spot where she was yesterday, and still with the same sad look in her eyes.


Today I was to make my own move and walk over to the little girl.

For as we all know, a park full of strange people is not a place for young children to play alone.

As I got closer I could see the back of the little girl's dress.

It was grotesquely shaped.


I figured that was the reason people just passed by and made no effort to speak to her.

Deformities are a low blow to our society and, heaven forbid if you make a step toward assisting someone who is different.

As I got closer, the little girl lowered her eyes slightly to avoid my intent stare.

As I approached her, I could see the shape of her back more clearly.

She was grotesquely shaped in a humped over form.

I smiled to let her know it was OK; I was there to help, to talk.

I sat down beside her and opened with a simple, "Hello."

The little girl acted shocked, and stammered a "hi "; after a long stare into my eyes.

I smiled and she shyly smiled back.

We talked until darkness fell and the park was completely empty.

I asked the girl why she was so sad.

The little girl looked at me with a sad face.
She said, "Because, I'm different."

I immediately said, "That you are!";and smiled.

The little girl acted even sadder and said, "I know."


"Little girl," I said,"  you remind me of an angel, sweet and innocent."

She looked at me and smiled, then slowly she got to her feet and
said, "Really?"

"Yes, you're like a little Guardian Angel sent to watch over all the people walking by."

She nodded her head yes, and smiled.

With that she opened the back of her pink dress and allowed her wings to spread, then she said "I am."

"I'm your Guardian Angel," with a twinkle in her eye.

I was speechless -- sure I was seeing things.

She said, "For once you thought of someone other than yourself. My job here is done"..

I got to my feet and said, "Wait, why did no one stop to help an angel?"

She looked at me, smiled, and said, "You're the only one that could see me," and then she was gone.

And with that, my life was changed dramatically.

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Life Lessons:

So, when you think you're all you have, remember, your angel is always watching over you.

Like the story says, we all need someone...
And, every one of your friends is an angel in their own way.
The value of a friend is measured in the heart.

What A Love Story....

Falling in Love in 30days..................Hope this wont happen to you..... 
  

  
  
DANIEL: I guess we are the left overs in this world. 
  
JASMINE: I think so. All of my friends have boyfriends & we are the only 2 persons 
               left in this world without any special someone in our lives. 
  
DANIEL: Yup! I don't know what to do. 
  
  
JASMINE: I know! We'll play a game. 
  
DANIEL: What game? 
  
JASMINE: I'll be your girlfriend for 30 days & you will be my boyfriend. 
  
DANIEL: That's a great plan in fact, I don't have anything to do for the following weeks.. 
  
  
DAY 1: 
  
They watched their first movie together & were both touched in the romantic film. 
  
DAY 4: 
  
They went to the beach & had a picnic... DANIEL & JASMINE had their quality time together. 
  
DAY 12: 
  
DANIEL invited JASMINE to a circus and they went to a Horror House.. JASMINE was scared 
and she tried to touch DANIEL's hand but by accident she touched someone else's and they both laughed.. 
  
DAY 14: 
  
They saw a fortune teller down the road and asked for their future. The fortune teller said: "My darlings, please don't waste the time of your lives... spend your time together happily." Then tears flow from the teller's eyes. 
  
DAY 20: 
  
JASMINE invited DANIEL to go to the hill and they saw a meteor... JASMINE mumbled something. 
  
DAY 28: 
  
They rode on a bus and because of the bumpy road, JASMINE gave her first kiss to DANIEL by accident. 
  
DAY 29: 11:37 pm 
  
DANIEL & JASMINE were sitting in the park where they first decided to play this game... 
  
  
DANIEL: I'm tired JASMINE... do you want any drinks? I'll buy you one.. I'll just go 
            down the road.. 
  
JASMINE: Apple juice would be fine,thanks. 
  
DANIEL: Wait for me... 
  
  
20 minutes later... a stranger  approched JASMINE. 
  
Stranger: Are you a friend of DANIEL? 
  
JASMINE: Yes, why? What happened? 
  
Stranger: A reckless drunken driver ran over DANIEL & he is critical in the hospital. 
  
  
11:57pm 
  
  
The doctor came out from the emergency room & handed out an apple juice & a letter to JASMINE. 
  
Doctor: We found this in DANIEL's pocket. 
  
JASMINE read the letter which says: 
  
JASMINE, this past few days, I realized you are really a cute girl & I am falling for you.. your cherished smile, your everything when we played this game.. & before this game ends, I would like you to be my girlfriend for the rest of my life. I love you, JASMINE... 
  
JASMINE crumples the paper & shouted.. 
  
"DANIEL! I don't want you to die...I love you... Remember that night we saw a meteor? I mumbled something.. I wished that we would be together forever & never end this game. Please don't leave me, DANIEL.. I love you, you cannot do this to me 
  
Then the clock strikes 12 
  
DANIEL's heart stop pumping 
  
THEN IT WAS THE 30th DAY... 
  
  
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Life Lessons:  
  
Always love your loved ones & show them how you feel before it's too late.. You will never know when they will be gone from your embrace.. If you were given a time to bestow petals of everlasting compassion & love to your love ones, today is the day. Love them while they are still here.. 
  
  

Why Having a Daughter is Nice

A couple made a deal the night of their Marriage to NOT open the door of their room to anybody who comes knocking in the morning for any reason! 

In the morning the parents of the husband came & knocked on the door, the husband & the wife were looking at each other & as they agreed before, they didn't open the door.After a while the parents of the bride came knocking at the door to check on them, the couple were looking at each other, then the bride dropped a tear & started crying she said: "I cannot keep them knocking & not open the door, I miss them already". The husband didn't say anything & he let her open the door for her parents.

Years & years passed & the couple had 5 children, the first ones were boys & the 5th was a little girl, when she was born the father was extremely happy that Almighty blessed him with her, & he threw a Huge Party for her in Grand style, people were so amazed with his joy & his happiness that they asked him, why are you so happy with her more than you were before with her older brothers?
He answered simply: "She is the one who will open the door for me"

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Life Lessons:  

Baby girls are the comfort of the eyes of their father!
They hold the key to their mothers hearts!
Daughters are really unique.
They care for their parents even after they are married.
Its rightly said, "A son is a son till he gets a Wife, a daughter is a daughter the rest of her Life!
Dedicated to all daughters & Daughter in Laws .