MOVING ON

I'm writing this mainly to collect my thoughts on recent mini-events in my every day life. I strangely had to bring forth the memory of the father of my late father. I never met him. He was a soldier and he died during World War II in the Philippines. My late father was very proud of him, although I believe he had few chances of meeting him as he was born during the war when my paternal grandfather was sent to fight (and subsequently died) in the war. My father told me how his mother received the terrible news of her husband being killed. My father even had to carry the mark of being a child of someone who died during the war in the form of a tattoo on his chest, which, according to him, was placed on him while he was still a youngster (or probably a baby). I recall asking him about this tattoo when I was still a little boy. I was recently asked about my paternal grandfather because I had to blurt out to someone who condescendingly asked about which war was I was talking about ...

Of course, I'm perfectly happy that same-sex marriages are now officially recognized by the US Federal government after the Supreme Court of the USA has come up with its decision that came days before the annual Gay Pride Parade. I recall now the conversations that my late good friend John Kreckler made  had with me about the idea of being in a same-sex marriage. You may have to come to think of it, as he and I would have been married if he's still alive today. He's basically monogamous, and viewed marriage as a sanctifying union between two persons. We had gotten to know each other really well such that we were sharing many moments of being together, sad or otherwise. We had so many concerns in our friendship and we couldn't proceed because something was holding us. I have told him about my long term partnership with someone who is still based in the Philippines. And he knew so many other facts about me, which I knew he acknowledged and accepted to be not getting in th...

Early this morning, while I was doing my home health aide parttime job for a 92-year old man in Harlem, we happened to pass by a nearby park. As my patient was busily sunning himself, I saw 2 postings in laminated plastic tied on the chicken wire fence in one portion of the park that got my curiosity. Try to read more clearly what the other photo says. Somewhat, my heart throbbed for the shock and pain of losing one's loved one, moreso, due to an accident in this case. The owner and the pet looked happy together in the first photo. I could only feel how badly the owner must have been missing terribly "Mushy," a dog that died due to a stray voltage over a year ago. In an instant, such unexpected and sudden death could occur, anywhere, for some unknown reason at all. I took the shots using my celfone, and got ideas on how to come up with more materials about a posting in my mind then, on photoshots I've made on cats I've met and whose owners I happen to know as ...

Something maybe sniffed in the air during these cold winter months. So far, this season is actually not as bad as the one last year. I recall finding myself unconsciously crying silently while walking early mornings when the previous nights had brought thick snowfalls from the skies beyond my usual, limited horizon, and I put forward a brave front to my destination. I recall seeing bleak & wet snow covered grounds, with buildings, vehicles silently standing, as I trudged in my heavy boots towards my direction for the day. I always remember vividly the pigeons that were huddled together, adding some color to the bleak surroundings, trying to make the most of it, keeping each other warm, and working on feeding themselves with the food some unknown strangers had thought of casting away as refuse (or perhaps deliberately as feeds for NYC's resident pigeons and other avian & mammalian creatures). I thought to myself, the pigeons could very well help themselves, and proceeded ...