Blessings

Last Saturday, I received a card in the mail that made me realize truly how blessed I have been. I saw the envelope lying on the table at my mom's house when I visited them. It had my maiden name on it and it was mailed to my lola's address, where we used to live when I was in college.

It was a Christmas card from Kuya Caloy.

I opened the card with a mixture of surprised happiness (that he still remembers me given I was never even an active member of DCF) and guilt. Because I remembered that he used to send birthday or Christmas cards every year since I left Molave. I always meant to reply but I never got around to it. The cards stopped coming a few years ago. I'm not sure if he stopped sending them or maybe I just never received them.

Then there was the Christmas card he sent last December, which took a month to reach me but I'm glad it did reach me.

"...you are still remembered in prayers."

I stared at the card for a few seconds, reading those words, still not believing that he really meant what he told me more than 10 years ago that he will be praying for me. I have often wondered why I have been so blessed all these years even as my relationship with God grows more distant. At the back of my mind, I have been waiting for God to punish me for straying so many times. But the blessings continue to come. And now I realized maybe it's because there were still people who never got tired of praying for me, even when I stopped praying for myself.

I plan to send a reply to Kuya Caloy this time. To tell him I'm doing well, and to thank him for always praying for me.