#learningalongtheway

       As we grow up, we start facing reality one little fact at a time. From our toddler years, when it's all just ABC's and 123's, we gradually learn more about life--the five senses we use, the flowers we see around us, rhyming words and how to spell them.

       Lately, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic and look back fondly on the little things that make up my happy childhood. I honestly don't know exactly where it sprouted from. It's probably because I am graduating in a few months and moving on to face a more grown up phase of my life. So, here I am, thinking back on what I've learned over the years.

       I've always been a big fan of fairytales--just like every other little girl in this world. I've had my fair share of pretending to be one of those princesses, all dressed up in my make-believe gown (the blankets on my bed wrapped and tied around my body) and meeting that prince who'll dance the night away with me.

       Now that I'm a tad bit wiser and a whole lot older than that little kid with a plastic crown on her head, I realize that love isn't as simple as those we read in fairytales. Maybe then it was. But times have changed. I'm still a believer in those happy endings. It's just that now, I know that getting my own happily ever after won't be as simple as calling out for a fairy godmother's help or patiently waiting for somebody like Prince Phillip to come swooping in and kissing me awake from my slumber.

     Back when I was in the first or second grade, we were taught some prayers and how to pray them in our Christian Living class. Then, I was happy enough to memorize them and be able to recite them without making any mistake to my class and my teacher. My mom and I spent hours to make me remember those complicated and big words I never fully understood and recite them. Back then, it was all reciting.

       After waves of trials and gray clouds that have come my way, I've learned the true essence of prayer and how important it has become in my life. I've been through sleepless nights because of worrying about my grades and not knowing what to do, stuck at a crossroads. I've gone through hard days when every thing has just gone astray and I've started losing hope. I've lost friends along the way. Looking back through it all, I notice one thing. When I was going through each one, I took time to pause, close my eyes, make the sign of the cross and pray. What was then a formality or a chore to me became my source of strength in dealing with life.

       Little things were also picked up along the way: my love for writing and music, the truth that I should never take things for granted, how precious time is, and how no one could go through life believing that she could live it alone.