EDEL S. RAMOS

Every year that is added to my age is another year of gifts from above. Again, I am turning a year older on February 24, 2009...and I am proud of my age. How does one measure life and translate the meaning of it. How does one spend the many beautiful years of living in this world.

Life has always been kind to everyone. However, it depends on how a person appreciates life for what it is...and accepts what it can offer. We are all here not as an accident...we were all made for many reasons. The journey of life has many ways...perhaps even shortcuts. But either way we take, we will reach the end where we have to account for what we have done to the life lent to us.

What makes life complete? Sad to say, no one can ever claim to have a complete life. Life is always lacking of something which no one too will know what seems is missing. For this is the eternal mystery of life. It pushes all of us to search...and search until we discover that what we found was not actually the missing link.

I have lived a life of ups and downs...and I will always find ways how to stay at the middle where I can have a better view of life itself. Life offers compromises. It allows us to know what we are capable of doing...giving...receiving... and achieving. Fully knowing all these will make us more human. Life becomes a blessing when it is shared. It becomes a grace when a person transforms this into a blessing to others.

My life has made me grow beyond what I could have imagined. It made me stronger. It shapes my well-being to become what I am and who I am right now. I came to this world with nothing in my hands and will definitely leave empty handed bringing only what I accomplished in my lifetime.

My family is my life...I live for them... and I am breathing because of them. At times, we can't understand why things are happening the way we never expected to happen. But this is GOD's will...and He has purpose for this. Many things have happend to my life...good and bad. I can't count them anymore. There were moments when I wanted to QUIT...to CRY. There were some questions better understood by leaving UNANSWERED. And there are many realities of life that only GOD fully understands. Surrender is not the best way to live when nothing else works. Courage is the key...hope is the way...and FAITH is the solution.

And what makes a person happy? Happiness is up to us. God has gifted us with almost everything to be happy. For me, the happiness I shared is the source of my joy in life. Many years from now, it will not matter how much money I saved...the kind of house I lived in...or the car I was driving. But the world may be different because I tried to become important in the life of others. How we take life is dictated by what priorities we have. Sometimes, to appreciate life, one has neither to hold on to it tightly nor to let it go so carelessly.

At 47, still I don't have the full grasp of what my life is all about. But I leave everything to GOD. Every day is a gift...another year is already a BONUS. What I have realized is more than money...more than anything else...it is my relationship with my family, friends and to HIM that matters. I have experienced bumpy roads in my journey...I have successes, failures and even frustrations in life. But I must go on because there are so much to do and so much to look forward to at the end of the bumpy road. There are many ways to be a winner but there is only one way to be a loser...to FAIL and not to look beyond the failure. In life, the real question is not if one will fail or not, for we will always encounter it but on how one is going to deal with it. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

I thank GOD for entrusting me this LIFE. It is not perfect...it is not complete but it is something worth-living. What I wish for myself on my birthday? PEACE and GOOD HEALTH...Surely, these will make me truly happy...like a glimpse of HEAVEN.