A person’s life starts out in phases: infancy, toddler years, preschool years, gradeschool years, high school years, college years, … Things could get all muddled up after college for me. However, whenever I look back on the past few years, I realize that I’ve made divisions for the phases that come after college.

1. College with Ramil – Let’s start off with this one especially since this defines everything that comes after. It was a carefree part of my life, where my allowance, cutting classes, getting rid of blackheads, and winning a game of bridge are the most of my worries. We got together towards the latter part of our second year in college and our college life is pretty much marked by our times together. This phase of my life brings back memories of fish balls, kikiam, isaw, casaa, bridge (the game), walks around the UP Diliman campus, passing time in the sunken garden and waiting for the sun to set, riding the UP-SM North jeepneys, Math building, IB and Pav4, lantern parades, going to SM North before going home, and so much more. I love looking back on this time of my life.
2. Ayala Life – After graduating, I just rested for a few weeks and started work immediately when May came around as an actuarial specialist. I spent three years in this company and my memories are filled with Ayala avenue, MRT rides, Glorietta, lunch-outs, monthly valuation reports, going to the gym, Jupiter, sales during office hours (hehe!), enjoying the employed life with Ramil (i.e. getting to ‘date’ more), and many more. Although my time with Ayala Life is actually longer than my college-with-Ramil years, this phase is the one that holds the least fond memories. I’m not saying I wasn’t fond of those memories but I guess I’m just not cut out for the corporate world.
3. Hedcen, pre-wedding, dorm – When I started teaching at Hedcen, Ramil and I stayed at the teacher’s dormitory because Antipolo was too long of a commute from Novaliches. This phase, although half a year only, is very significant for me. This is where I discovered my love for teaching, and where Ramil and I adjusted to the idea of being together from morning until night. The only time we weren’t together is if we have classes and during the night while sleeping. Despite knowing each other really well, being together in a work environment where we are both employees is still very different. It was a wonderful discovery that we aren’t just good together as a couple, we also work together really well.
4. Taytay house without Mateo – When we got married, we rented a small one-bedroom house in Taytay. It was a wonderful phase that will always hold a special place in my heart. We loved being married to each other and we never thought that being married will be that great. Yes, we had our share of the usual newlywed troubles albeit very few and minor ones, but those added to the greatness of the whole experience. Five months into the marriage, we found out we were expecting and it added a whole new flavor to our married life.
5. Taytay house with Mateo – The first six months of Mateo’s life was spent with just the three of us in our rented Taytay house. I think this phase is the phase where our rate of maturity is the highest. Nothing to make us grow and mature faster than an infant who depends on no one but the two of us. It was basically just the three of us. We’d visit our respective families on weekends whenever we can but we were pretty much on our own. It was also during this time that I fully realized that I would love to continue teaching. After six months of staying home and not teaching, I was eager to take on a teaching load even if the pay would only allow me to hire a yaya.
6. Evergreen house, changing yayas – Since I was able to get teaching loads, we hired a yaya to watch over Mateo during the three hours that I’m not home. A few months after, we found a bigger house in Evergreen where we still currently reside. It was very convenient for us because aside from having more space, we were five minutes away from school. Mateo had several yayas during our years here in Evergreen. It was pretty much a plateau for us, we were just focused on bringing up Mateo the best way we know how. My employment status changed from part time to full time and then back to part time. This phase of my life is not very momentous because we were pretty much just living our lives. However, we do have a wonderful proof that there were many amazing moments during this phase, Mateo.
7. Our Angel Baby – Very short phase but one of the most painful ones.

The next few months will be the last of the just-the-three-of-us phase because come August, it will be an altogether different phase for us. For me, there’s a sense of urgency to make the most out of the time where Mateo has us all to himself and we have no one else to tend to but Mateo.

Still, I’m excited and looking forward to everything that God has in store for us. Basically, all we do is stay home, go to school, do chores and errands, and occasional trips to our families or to the mall, but I feel like my life is so full right now. I know that I’m living the kind of life I would love to look back on when I’m old and wrinkled already.