It was one hell of a roller coaster ride last year (2017). I can even describe it like a horror train to be more precise.

Looking back, I survived all the hardest ones- my back injury, my family’s dilemmas, my dad’s 3 strokes that we witnessed. We are down on our knees thanking God for the blessing of having my Dad around despite the traumatizing experience we had as a family. It bonded us closer and now we go through it together.

But looking at the year that passed, I can say it ended on a challenging note but it gave us a lot of milestones and fond memories too.

Our little girl, Chesca, went to preschool and her development was way beyond we imagined. She is more sociable and very sweet than ever. Her people skills rock! She learned so much songs and the importance of Mama Mary and Jesus in our lives. She met new friends that are part of her everyday life- teachers, classmates, school mates, their school guard, and teacher aides. We can’t believe she’s turning 3 soon. Our daily conversations with her is amazing and we get surprised how wide knowledge is and how sharp her memory is. We’re so thankful for such an active and smart kid.

Our little boy, Matteo, grew bigger than ever. He’s bigger for his age and we’re thankful for a kid with so much appreciation of food (hahaha!). It’s true! If science can prove that those things may have been inherited from the parents, I guess we know from who he got it from (bwahahaha!). He is already babbling and trying to converse and his daily interaction with his sister and the people around our community helped him become sociable too.

Well, aside from all the happy things and milestones of our children, as a couple we attended numerous sessions about the family and parenthood at our preschool. We love how involved the parents are in this school and how the teachers know their students well.

It’s not all challenges for me now that I think about it. I got a new job with  a reputable company that keeps me a stay-at-home mom and at the same time doing what I love to do.  Also, I was able to do new projects this year and got new learnings to be applied this 2018.

My husband made a life-changing decision to prioritize the family too and it gave us nothing but great memories and bonding time. It’s priceless and we were surprised how timing was all in our favour this 2017.

Sometimes we forget to see the good because the feeling of hardship and pain is just too strong but how I hated 2017 before writing this article transformed into something better as  draw closer to end this. I now see 2017 as a year of learning, transformation, evolution, opportunities, and gifts. And this year 2018, it’s the time to focus and use the gifts and circumstances given to us last year.

2018, let’s do this! It may not be the smoothest ride as we all wish it will be but it’s going to be all worth it! I’m excited to be given another year of opportunities and another year of wonderful memories. I can say I can face this year with my better and smarter self. It’s hard to make promises, I will just do all my plans (That’s how I roll) 🙂

Thank you for those who read my blog and kept giving wonderful feedback. Thank you for all the suggestions but I keep this blog genuine, true, and from my heart. For those who asked, I don’t get paid for the articles here. I write it because they are worth sharing to others and for others. It’s somewhat an open diary. I keep it conversational and easy to read too. So sometimes, if you see typos, it’s most probably because I’m writing it in the middle of errands, my me-times, or while the kids are asleep. I promise to write more this year for all those who wait for it. Again, thank you for the support.

Let’s go through the journey of 2018 together! We are all given a new chances, new hope, new days, and new life.

Imagine, back then 2018 seemed to be so far away. I imagined flying cars and robots. But hey, it’s still the same right? we grow older physically but our minds don’t. We grow older every year, but I just realised that we all just don’t age. We’re all 21 year-old people (or even younger) trapped in older bodies with more (or less for some) wisdom too.