Hi everyone. We survived.

Thursday, October 01, 2009 Jonette 2 Comments

James, Ate Osang and I survived a weekend at the mercy of Typhoon Ketsana/Ondoy. Those were two of the worst days we'd ever experienced this year.

I mean, I've grown used to floods in our subdivision at this time of year. Every August to September, we'd always be ready to haul the appliances up to the second floor, turn the sofa sets into puzzle pieces atop the dining table to keep them away from the waters. We'd bring up the rice cooker, canned goods, instant noodles, the gas range, even the dog. Living in Cainta does that to you.

Man, those were good times.

It was the first time I'd seen a flood of this caliber. The water had been knee-deep out in the streets by 6am, and we'd gotten so used to this we thought it'd never reach our doorstep at this rate. By 10am, the water stalked right beneath the sliding door of our apartment, and in 15 minutes, we found ourselves in knee-deep water. Indoors.

A few more hours, the water had reached two feet inside. A few more, and the water had covered the entire first floor, cold, greasy, and slick with mud.

we managed to save the electronic items: the PC, the freshly-repaired LCD, the television set, the PS2 and the DVD player. The phone went beneath the roiling water, and the cabinet-seats, the refrigerator, and the gas range went swimming.

I rescued the sewing machine from the dining/crafting table and placed it in its case atop my 4-foot textile bin. a few hours later, the water had shook the bin with enough force to send the sewing machine toppling.

That hurt. A lot.

Two days of waiting, huddling for warmth, sharing and killing boredom. and now we are fine.


It's great to be alive.

For now, the yarn's all muddy, colors have run, textiles are good as gone, and the sewing machine needs looking at, but hey, we're alive!

I am immensely thankful to loving family members and friends who have worried about us, checked on us, and done everything in their power to lend a kind word and a helping hand. Words cannot express how much all this has meant to us.

I've had some plans in mind for the past few months -- making a huge step toward crafting professionally, taking it one step at a time -- but the typhoon changed all that. It's a rather difficult thing to swallow, but perhaps it is not a complete end to it all. I'll try to think of it as a ... rest period. Or a benevolent delay. Often, these sorts of things turn out for the best.


My office-buddy and good friend Justin sent me this song because it reminded him so much of everyone who got caught up in Ondoy's wrath. It made him shed a manly tear. I think this song is lovely.

Here's to us: the brave, the strong, the self-giving. Here's to us who have survived this storm and who continue to brave the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. We have persevered, and we shall continue to persevere, because that's what we were put on this earth to be. Here's to rebuilding our lives with our own hands, and here's to helping a brother out.

Here's to us. Here's to life.