“Joyce
Talag is a 20-something stiletto-wearing solo parent.
She hopes
to effect change by promoting advocacies
through
her blogs and services as a speaker, writer and volunteer.”
My
blog profile contained this brief self-description for the most part
of my 20s.
I
graduated from college at 20 and gave birth to a bundle of joy a few
months later. By 21, I learned how to let go, rising above a
traumatic experience with the help of family, some friends, and a
challenging full-time job that eventually led me back to my first
love: development work.
Since then, my life has gone through a series of rebirths yet, all along I strived to live a life meaning, continuously aiming to be a woman for others.
A significant life disturbance in the middle of 2015 prompted me to check my compass and embark on a special journey. This was a timely existential pursuit as my workplace at the moment provided me an opportunity to ask meaningful questions as part of our Personal Strategic Plan exercises.
Where did it all start? How did I come into existence?
Hold my hand, Krissy. Let me take you with my in this journey back to my self.
Since then, my life has gone through a series of rebirths yet, all along I strived to live a life meaning, continuously aiming to be a woman for others.
A significant life disturbance in the middle of 2015 prompted me to check my compass and embark on a special journey. This was a timely existential pursuit as my workplace at the moment provided me an opportunity to ask meaningful questions as part of our Personal Strategic Plan exercises.
Where did it all start? How did I come into existence?
Hold my hand, Krissy. Let me take you with my in this journey back to my self.
Sun,
Dead Sea, and a Lot of Sand
I was halfway out of your Lola-Mama when my cry bounced on the walls of the delivery room of King Fahd General Hospital in Gizan, Saudi Arabia at 6:30 am on September 13, 1984, a Thursday. This prompted the Filipina nurse to prophesy, albeit falsely, that I will be a future singer. (Your lola - who is a nurse herself - recalls that I had a lot of hair.)
Looking at my pictures as a baby and a young child in Saudi, I can see how I was showered with love by your grandparents and Tita Joharah who was around 2 years old when I was born. I had a lot of pictures---and to me, they all looked pretty mainly because mommy loved to kept me neat and somehow treated me like a doll. If I had to close my eyes and describe my childhood with just one word using my emotions, I would say that it was happy.
Let me share a couple of events that stand out in my memory:
I will list down several events that stand out in my memory
being kidnapped
catching red crabs, first cuss word uttered: tarantado
first high heels
puzzles
when I want a toy
Roberta Flack
snake
our cats
police tabatchoy
sitting in the car
Detdet, Leo
Indian kid who was shooing me at 2 or 3
sumbungera
jam's arrival, ginising ako ni dad, making her milk, our conversations
I was halfway out of your Lola-Mama when my cry bounced on the walls of the delivery room of King Fahd General Hospital in Gizan, Saudi Arabia at 6:30 am on September 13, 1984, a Thursday. This prompted the Filipina nurse to prophesy, albeit falsely, that I will be a future singer. (Your lola - who is a nurse herself - recalls that I had a lot of hair.)
Looking at my pictures as a baby and a young child in Saudi, I can see how I was showered with love by your grandparents and Tita Joharah who was around 2 years old when I was born. I had a lot of pictures---and to me, they all looked pretty mainly because mommy loved to kept me neat and somehow treated me like a doll. If I had to close my eyes and describe my childhood with just one word using my emotions, I would say that it was happy.
Let me share a couple of events that stand out in my memory:
- KIDNAPPED! When I was about 4 -- close to the time that we were to leave Saudi, I was nearly kidnapped by an Arab man when mommy was busy attending to patients during a busy day in the clinic. I was already being harnessed to a camel -- YES, you read it right! -- when mommy rushed into the scene to rescue me after an Arab woman called her attention. Good thing that I made it here to write this story for you.
- Tarantado was my first cuss word. I went on a crab-fishing trip to the Dead Sea -- YES darling, Gizan is a province right beside the Dead Sea, across Egypt -- in the company of my best friend Detdet's family and some Filipino workers. Hearing some of them trade expletives during a conversation, I butt in to boast my awareness of their grown up language. I remember running back to the bus to cry my heart out after Detdet's mom reprimanded me. I woke up with mom reprimanding me -- but right now, it feels like she found it funny -- about what happened. Now, I wonder why my parents let me join such a trip without them. I hope it was all for good reasons.
- How "JoyceInHeels" began her Life in High Heels
I will list down several events that stand out in my memory
being kidnapped
catching red crabs, first cuss word uttered: tarantado
first high heels
puzzles
when I want a toy
Roberta Flack
snake
our cats
police tabatchoy
sitting in the car
Detdet, Leo
Indian kid who was shooing me at 2 or 3
sumbungera
jam's arrival, ginising ako ni dad, making her milk, our conversations
How much inspirations to haveDad's Living Doll
but few a doll at home I own
This doll is one of my fine treasures I'll keep
as she has all the living memories
of joy, fun and laughter
I even shared her tears and pain
and worked through the night with her fever...
dreamed her dreams
fight her fought
think her thoughts
and spoken what she sought
Some say dolls aren't for man
nonetheless, man has his living dolls
inside a warm wanting heart
and would l mean pleasure for sure
with all those dear prices I paid.
Rolando Talag, RN, PhD
In the
Settling
Back Home
Gracian
Foundation
Journalism
and Teenage Angst
Party,
Business and NGO
My
First Love
Krissy
A
Bout with Depression
My
30s
Tracing Roots
