Happy Birthday to ME!

For some doctors, birthdays mean expiring PRC licenses. I could actually ask someone to renew it for me but there is a certain thrill to doing it on my own. After all, it's my first time.  And it takes on a whole new meaning just thinking of how I spent the last three years of my life as a doctor. I remember my lengthy post on FB two years ago while I was still a doctor to the barrio.  I want to share it here with you too...

One year after getting my license number, here are the perks that have come along with my job…

I got waived professional fees from fellow doctors attending my family.
That was the first perk i have enjoyed, even before I got the license.

I got to address a big crowd in Heroes Hall, Malacanang , and bring my family in the restricted premises

I now live in an area of pristine white sand beaches..
for stretches it is possible to not see anyone else but your own shadow
once I have snorkelled and bumped into a school of fish with bright colors,
forming a wall unmoved by my presence, each fish spanning almost 1 foot.
for someone unlearned about the sea, that was the most glorious sight

I had my beach wedding in one of those beaches.

And since I am surrounded by sea, I eat fresh seafoods –
Fish – lapu-lapu, tanguili, suran, molmol
Lobsters!!!
Cuttlefish, octopus, squids (now I know the difference),
Sea urchins, sea cucumbers (1thousand a piece in manila), sea worms
Seaweeds of different species…

I get treated with utmost respect and importance..
when I visit the island baranggays, I get the feeling that they feed me with
the best that they have. believe it or not, in some islands fish are hard to come by.
so they feed me their precious chickens. in some islands, they serve humongous
inihaw na fish, fresh out of the sea

I became the graduation speaker in the municipality high school.
And the graduation speaker of a school in the next municipality.
I was also invited to give a career talk to high school students, in yet another
municipality. Oh, and there are only 3 municipalities in my area!

When you pass by, schoolchildren would say "moyang damaldamal doktora" (good
morning doctora), complete with the gesture of hand in the chest and bowing of the
head.

All of this is quite very humbling.

I got to stay for 4 nights in an exclusive resort nearby.
Amanpulo is just within the vicinity (so everyday I enjoy the same expensive sunset
for free) 

I get to travel, on official business.  Latest, an all expense
“honeymoon” to Coron and Culion courtesy of Malampaya :)

My life is a constant adventure, everyday meeting different people, everyday a different challenge. Sometimes you get the rush, sometimes things are plain. There’s so much variety.

One year after the boards, I do not regret any of the choices I have made. As Frederick Buechner said, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." 



Reading this unearthed piece brought some tears because my life is so different now. And still, I do not regret any of the choices I have made :)

--- “By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me is not without effect” 
I Corinthians 15:10

Tayay Island, Agutaya, Palawan