That Old Woman

Every time I come home from work, I always notice this old woman, in her seventies sitting at the entrance of their house. She always smiled to the passers-by although most of them don't pay attention to her. I can't imagine what inspired her. Smiling almost everyday habitually is no joke.

At one instance, she approached me and asked if I have some stuff for sewing."It's my past time." she said. I could not imagine at her age,still doing the task everybody hated. I don't see her wearing the eyeglasses.She must have a good eyesight.

Sometimes I see her giving sermons to her grandchildren,not to play beside the street to avoid being side swept by vehicles moving every minute.Their house is situated just few meters from the highway.However, her grandchildren scamper away towards the end of the sidewalk, as if they haven't heard anything.I also did the same during my childhood.

One late afternoon, I curiously listened her stories about what transpired for the day.She's socially aware. At least, she continued to nourish her knowledge despite her old age. I know only few who have this kind of attitude.

I could see the image of my grandmother who passed away several years ago through this old woman.Everybody in the family considered me as her favorite "APO" that even during her interment mass I was given the priority to read the gospel for her. She must be very happy if she had seen me from above.

This old woman constantly has that beautiful smile whenever I see her, and I can't prevent myself to smile back at her.Anyway, it makes her day as well as mine.

What should you do?

Thieves robs you at times less expected. They mastered all possibilities to evade being caught. It could have been their way to earn a living and survive. 

To feed the mouths of their families, to clothed them and send them to school perhaps. The victims mostly helpless could do nothing, but fall to their knees hoping those things taken away will be returned. How to recover it is a puzzle.

Last week, the house where I stayed was robbed. Three rooms at the upper floor were totally searched by an unidentified robber. The door locked was destroyed leaving all the rooms bare and disarranged. Things scattered on the floor including those piled on the cabinet. My digital camera was lost, my partner whenever I travel. One room lost two cellphones and an MP4 player which costs quiet substantial.

All we've got was had the incident blottered at a nearby police station. 

Initially, the owner suspected that one of the housemates orchestrated the operation. He was invited to the station for questioning.

For all you know, we have a main door where everybody will pass before reaching the second and third level of the edifice. Keys were given to all the dwellers. Its just impossible that the robber penetrated inside without knowledge of the whereabouts of the house. The incident happened in a broad early morning after everyone goes to work and in school.

We just thanked that nobody got hurt during that incident.The owner promised to take security measures to prevent further damaged in the future and likewise protect the dwellers of the house.Otherwise, all housemates would leave the house primarily because of security.

In these times of crisis, all must be proactive. Be extra cautious in everything. Thieves are just around the corner waiting for the right timing.

Guitar and Songs

It has been our custom to celebrate mass in the office every first Friday of the month. For the past masses, we only sing in acapella for the entire celebration. We did this without any practice at all. It's like delivering an impromptu speech. We selected songs with familiar tunes for everyone to sing with it easily.
 
Our celebration for this month was memorable. We've bought a guitar from a well-known manufacturer in the city.I'm equally excited to know that I'll be strumming the guitar once again. I learned to run my fingers on the guitar fret when I was a teenager. However, I can't play the instrument without any guide, particularly the chords.
 
We changed some of our mass songs which has been sung for a couple of months.The web has been of great help to us. We uploaded the perfect tunes for each song and had myself familiarize on the tempo.Almost ninety percent of which, had been successfully performed.
 
Contrary to our previous celebrations, we had a haphazard rehearsal for half an hour for us to get things in order and get acquainted with the new songs. I did not feel any pain on my fingers until I strummed alone without any distractions.
 
A number of persons attended the Eucharist, including some clients whose having a conciliation on that day. I moved my hand across the guitar fret, coupled the chants echoing in the office. Many at times I'll get lost in my accompaniment but was overshadowed by the singers.
 
Doing the acapella is pleasing to hear, but unpleasing when the performer gets out of tune. On the contrary, singing with an instrument, a guitar in our case, is better. The singer obviously will be unnoticed whenever he got a flat or sharp.
 
Where the guitar goes, there the song goes.