Birthday - A Celebration of Life

Today is my birthday ('ty - first). I don't usually celebrate it. But I think some people are happy that on this day 'ty-one years ago, I was born. Celebrating this day is thus a celebration of life - mine. And I thought it best to celebrate it with others whose lives hang on the balance.

In memory of Yam who was with me on few occasions in the past doing similar thing, I chose to be with pediatric cancer patients at the Davao Medical Center. There were 12 of them at this time. The visit and the day's rewards were enormous. Aside from seeing most of the kids' smiles, I realized how fortunate I was, I am and I can still be.

My wife Emma rushed from her work and was with me. She took these pictures. Shiena Payno, a child life coordinator of Kythe, Incorporated, who works with the kids, was so kind to accommodate us into what they're doing.

This day, what I could have spent for myself with friends at a birthday party for myself, went to the kids. Not much, but enough to make some kids contort their faces into a genuine smile. Not much, but enough to make them and their parents feel loved and cared for - even by a couple of strangers, who are strangers no more.

As Einstein once said, a life lived for others is indeed worth living.

(Thanks to those who greeted me on this day. And to those who'll read this. Ha ha ha, wala tayo ngayon - para sa mga bata muna)