Souls Stretched To The Limits

So Michael arrived late at the site where we are supposed to have an ocular inspection of the government-owned property we were to cover under land reform. I stood by the waiting shed along the highway of Burgos, Ilocos Norte, and waited for him, as instructed by his staff. He arrived, he was the one driving his jeep. I climbed up, then off we went to this 150-hectare property owned by the Provincial Government. He alighted his jeep, and said he had to a 'banyo'. He went to an outhouse built beneath a tree. 

A group of farmers was waiting for him in the barangay hall, and he looked curiously at me. He did not know I asked our potential beneficiaries to be there to plead for his go-ahead on the coverage of the property. He whispered to me, 'why are there people here, Christianne? we were just supposed to inspect. just us'. I told him since he was visiting, they wanted to see him personally. 'Oh no, you set me up!'. So I said, 'you are here now, sir, let's just talk to them'. So we did. Explained in Ilocano what was to happen that day, that the Governor still had to go and inspect, that there were many things his office and DAR are to discuss, etc., blah, blah. While Michael, who was, at that time still getting used to understand the dialect when spoken fast, looked at the farmers, me and my staff, with this funny,' trying-to-look-like-he-understood-fast-ilocano', expression on his face.

Discussions done, we walked with our staff, survey teams from both our offices, while they explained to him the boundaries, present use of the area, stuff I did not want to listen to at that time. All I wanted to hear was Michael saying, 'yes, let's do it'.  He asked if I hiked. I said I walk, sir. He said, 'hiking is different. hike up the hill with me. i will give my answer at the top'. That is where one can have a good view of the farmlots. So I hiked. Midway, I felt like my lungs were about to burst, took a while to regain breathing, and hiked up again. When I reached the top, he said, 'you ok?'. I said, and I grimace at the thought now how disrespectful I may have been, 'ok, your answer better be yes, i am dying here, and i am going to kill you if you say no'. He laughed, and said, 'yes'. I was gasping for air, so you would understand if I did not have the energy to jump up and down after I got his 'yes'.

This story is not so much as bragging about the things I had to do to get the job done. Far from it. This story is about the 'conspiracy of all that is in the universe', leading one to the path less taken, and rewarding one the joy and reawakening that all will fall into place in God's time. It was my first year in that province far north; and it was Michael's first term. We learned that we both did not plan to be where we were, at that time.  I cried buckets when I learned I would be living away from my kids. But I had to work. Michael and I looked at the heavens atop that hill, in our hearts perhaps was the yearning to give meaning to the chance we have been given no matter how inexplicable. So we agreed to work it out for our farmers and their families. 

I guess I must look at each day that way. We are put in places  at certain times in our lives unexpectedly, and our souls are stretched to their limits with the misery of unfamiliarity, coping with discomforts and adjustments, the drive to be accepted, the pursuit of balance within us. We are forced to circumstances which are either extremely happy at one time, then desolate the next. There is really no in-between. I wake up in  mornings of excitement and yearning, yet mornings, too, of uncertainty and dread. But we go with the ebb and flow because there is no other way but to die. Might as well give life our best shot, everyday. Until 'all that there is in the universe' conspire, to lead you to the path less taken, and reward you with the joy and reawakening that all will fall into place,  in God's time.