I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22. ;)

I don’t have plans for this year. All I know is that I want to learn to cook, I want to swim more because I wanted to dive into the Tubbataha Reef someday or learn to surf big waves, and I want to really learn how to ride a bike. It’s weird because my mind is a constant flux of schedule that whenever I see a free day, I end up filling it out, whether it be visiting friends, or going on Friends marathon or editing photos. Now it’s just a clear nada which kinda excites me.

I read a Shauna Niequist article a few days ago and I really connected. I know in my heart that I’m called to rest this year, to be steady. My 21st and 22nd years a height of adventures, my 23rd a plateau, a place to rest, to think, to ponder, to go on and see actual everydays. Of course there will always be adventures, but this time I know it will not be shrill delight; it would be warm and long and lasting. It would be just the start.

No, there will not be a history or a list of achievements on this one, because as far as I’m concerned, I have achieved nothing yet, not a slight one. I’ll continue living and making better art. I’ll keep in mind that life and art cannot be achieved, that the journey itself is the reward. I’ve achieved nothing yet.

*****

I remember going down the rock stairs. I left my slippers on one step and looked out at how far the sea pulled its body from where I stood. It was the most peaceful thing that embraced me – 3 mangrove trees standing on their roots deep in the fair sand, bathing in the sun and saying see you soon to the water. There’s nothing much that I can do, I was drawn.

I took pictures of things that somehow I felt were parts of me, some time ago. After a while I was satisfied with being alone and gushing to the wind at how great God is, I called out to my brother and we communed with the earth.