the short answer was easy, "tuloy is different. you can't compare my commitment to tuloy to *this group*." predictably enough, she wasn't satisfied with my answer. and while she doesn't read this blog, i finally thought of writing the entire answer here.
you see, tuloy still is something that makes me want to get up mornings despite having gone home at three in the morning. tuloy still motivates me enough to get out of bed at 8 in the morning, run to the grocery to buy ingredients and prepare something wonderful (well, hopefully wonderful!) for lunch.
 |
| [preparing for lunch!] |
tuloy is where i find people i love and respect. i don't know if they feel the same way about me (hopefully they do!) but these are people who i don't only wish to spend time with on specified days of the week, but even times that i don't have to spend with them. we've shared highs (and recently a LOT of highs!) and lows (thankfully not much of those!) with each other, traveled within and outside the country, and fought each other with great passion (wait - as someone pointed out, only KEf and I fight, everyone else is peaceful and loving, haha!). as we realized last thursday, we've celebrated births and mourned deaths, and the only thing missing is a wedding.
i wish i could say i'm working on the wedding part! hahaha.
 |
| [almost time to eat!] |
but as we like pointing out to people, perhaps the biggest thing that holds us bound to each other (well, aside from the love for the kids of tuloy!) is the fact that we love eating with each other. dare we say the family that eats together, stays together?
but lucky me commercial aside, our "famous" thursday dinners started in the form of chips + drinks that ate gracey would bring for us to share after tutorials. then kuya jojo came along and he'd bring real dinner food cause he'd be famished by the time tutorials were over. and when he go too busy to bring us dinner, we started bringing it ourselves.
then the thursday dinners extended to breakfast/lunch/dinner meetings that we'd have at KEf's house. he'd bribe us into coming by saying "i'm making breakfast/lunch" and the meeting would extend and extend and we'll tell him, "make dinner na din?" and sometimes he would.
and then when i started cooking again, i started pitching in (so that i'd have guinea pigs to taste my cooking, haha!)
as we've tried explaining (albeit not successfully enough for people to "get" it) it to others in the past, the bonding that began over tutoring kids was solidified by the food that we shared and the travels that we've enjoyed with each other. we've created our own little rituals: regular thursday dinners, weekend meetings at KEf's house, valentine outreach programs, holy thursday bisita iglesia, and a trip here and there. KEf's given us all nicknames. they've learned to put up with the fights that are sure to erupt each time KEf and I argue about a point. the girls have lit (what seemed like) hundreds of blue candles for our "relationships". oh, there are people who've come and gone, but more or less, thursday's filled with people who genuinely love the family that we've built together.
so in reply to my friend who asked why i'm able to commit to tuloy, i could easily list a lot of answers as to why, both the things you expect and the things that you don't. but even as i tried putting it down on *paper* (well ... as i tried typing it down on this blog just doesn't sound right, hahaha) i don't think words were sufficient to capture just how a big place this group has in my heart, in my life, and in my prayers. it's cause of everything above and more. i committed five years ago, and i'm sure i'll be committing for way more in the future, but just like in a making a decision to love someone, it's a daily commitment i make, a commitment i hope i never take for granted, a commitment that has thankfully never taken ME for granted, and a commitment that i hope to be able to make for as long as i shall live.
(pics from yesterday's meeting at KEf's house ... where else?)
 |
| [fried fish, sinigang na baboy, and ensaladang mangga for lunch!] |
as we've tried explaining (albeit not successfully enough for people to "get" it) it to others in the past, the bonding that began over tutoring kids was solidified by the food that we shared and the travels that we've enjoyed with each other. we've created our own little rituals: regular thursday dinners, weekend meetings at KEf's house, valentine outreach programs, holy thursday bisita iglesia, and a trip here and there. KEf's given us all nicknames. they've learned to put up with the fights that are sure to erupt each time KEf and I argue about a point. the girls have lit (what seemed like) hundreds of blue candles for our "relationships". oh, there are people who've come and gone, but more or less, thursday's filled with people who genuinely love the family that we've built together.
so in reply to my friend who asked why i'm able to commit to tuloy, i could easily list a lot of answers as to why, both the things you expect and the things that you don't. but even as i tried putting it down on *paper* (well ... as i tried typing it down on this blog just doesn't sound right, hahaha) i don't think words were sufficient to capture just how a big place this group has in my heart, in my life, and in my prayers. it's cause of everything above and more. i committed five years ago, and i'm sure i'll be committing for way more in the future, but just like in a making a decision to love someone, it's a daily commitment i make, a commitment i hope i never take for granted, a commitment that has thankfully never taken ME for granted, and a commitment that i hope to be able to make for as long as i shall live.
(pics from yesterday's meeting at KEf's house ... where else?)
0 said hello!:
Post a Comment