THE BIG DREAM
Have you ever had a big dream, so big that those around you can only shake their heads and think that you are in for a big disappointment? Don’t give up just yet. Dream on and believe it will come true. But don’t stop there. Take action.
Pampanga could very well be every child’s dream playplace. Rustic and raw, it teems of paddy fields, flowers and streams with Mount Arayat as its backdrop. Truly, an ideal for exploring and playing. As a child it was really a place that energized and stimulated my imagination. It nurtured my love for nature and adventure. It allowed me to appreciate both the dust during summer months, and the mud on rainy days. Oh, how I loved the dew every morning and the sun rays at sun down.
Tatang was a carpenter, a woodcarver. He worked overseas. Yes, he’s probably one of the first few Filipinos who earned a living a million miles away from their children. Having had only 2 children, you’d probably say, we had it easy. But no. Then and now, everyone is family. Sharing is one of the virtues we’d had a lot of practice while growing up. Tatang, particularly, was a good candidate for a Kapitan. He helps, until his breathed his last in 2018, most everybody who comes to his.
Tatay would send and marvel us with photos of his workplace, and other places he had visited overseas. Not grand, nor fancy but it certainly fanned a curiosity in me.
Hmmm. So there is another place apart from where I am. A place where sands, not cemented or pebbled roads are walked on, and where tall crapers, not trees or flowers are planted on. It is through him that my dream of seeing the world grew.
Surely, there’s a bigger world outside of my hometown. And someday, I will travel and explore as much as I can, see and enjoy the bounty of God’s creations. And maybe bring something back to my family and Cabalens.
I’d talked about my dreams to every person I’d meet. Family, friends, neighbors and even complete strangers would hear about how I’d see the world. Nobody disagreed or ridiculed this dream, but they openly laid down the challenges and obstacles that lay before me. Travel is a luxury that only the rich and famous enjoy.
In my mind, not so. But even if it is so, then I will be rich and famous!
I went to College with this dream in mind. I held on to it with the great desire to get out and hold the world in my hands. So I pressed and pushed, and worked hard to the core. It was not as easy as I thought it was. And many times, the disappointment was always bigger than that hope that was before me. But with some stroke of goodluck, Singapore beckoned, and I was able to cross-over.
An exchange student in the 90s, I can feel in my bones that my dream is coming true. Especially when I met Jonathan, who had the same dream of travelling the world.
Tell me, how serendipitous can you get — me a thousand miles away from home meeting someone with the same dream, this could not be mere coincidence. This is my dream, our dream, becoming a reality. And so we plunged right into it. We got married in 2000 and settled in Singapore.
Charmed life you think? A word of caution here, while living and working abroad do have perks, it is never a bed of roses. At times it gets exhausting and often, things get really frustrating.
This city-state may have everything going, yes, but not for everybody. I worked double-time and so is my husband. With so little time for our child. Too much work, and still too little for our travel dreams. Still Jonathan and I continued dreaming, continued looking forward for a better life.
In the midst of the challenges, we’d look at each other and find the travel dreams so alive and burning.
Many times, over coffee, we’d laugh and talk of how we’d wade through the water of Maldives or run along with Roos in Australia or hike a tall mountain. All these talk, and then sleep smiling and waiting for our fortunes to turn around.
Paulo Coelho says it very well, “the universe conspires to make your dreams come true”. In 2007, the stars lined-up to start fulfilling our dreams.
Australia called.
We answered the call, and here we are.
One country at a time, we are seeing our dreams being fulfilled, and more!
With a bit more resources at our hand, we are able to do what we have been raised to do, share!
And today, we start our journey with you.
Let us see the world together. Allow us to share with you the adventures of this life that was laid down to us. Come and enjoy it with us. The world with all its sundries is such a beautiful work of art by the Lord, it should be shared to all. Our big dream, started with just us. But now, this big dream we now share with y’all.
This is me and Jonathan — Sharing our big dream, sharing our life with you. G’day everyone!
#wanderlust #traveldiary #jonathan&karen
