DAY, THE WORLD IS WAITING

"It's only words and words are all I have to take your heart away."

Softly singing in good spirits this familiar song, I polished off with thorough editing the final copy of my maiden article for my newly-launched blog ATABAY. I called my daughter Dionne Arae, a techie, who has been responsible for the creative aspects of my blog. A late sleeper and riser, she was moving at a snail's pace. I felt she was taking it so easy that I had to call her again, this time, intently resorting to hyperbole.

"Day, the world is waiting." (Day is my daughter's pet name)

Though not meant to be taken literally, like any hyperbole, the statement appears to be shafts of sunlight breaking the clouds to reveal a clear blue sky.

Today, I could not imagine that I would ever utter the statement for my little piece of writing. I could not imagine that writing love letters to the world through my blog could evolve from my writing love letters to my wife in the past. I can still recall, many years ago, I turned my hand to writing earnestly when my wife had to go out-of-town for a half-a-year corporate work trip, leaving our home with me taking care of our kids for the first time. Mulling over our home without her for an extended time, I figured out a "devil," prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. I dared say the "devil" would not rough up the kids because of their "guardian angel" nanny. But, foreshadowing the out-of-sight-out-of-mind alarm bells, I pondered, the "devil" could thrash our marriage.

A timely chat with my brother Rolly on his tips on how to handle a long-distance relationship was manna from heaven. (At that time, the cell phone could still be on the drawing board.) His formula: Write one love letter a day. Compile and send 7 love letters a week. The other end does the same. The net effect: both "see" each other every day.

What could I write in one particular love letter after a month of writing every day? Not seeing each other face-to-face after a month, we would find that this dry and trite line "I have rice and fried chicken tonight" could conjure up a good deal of vision of each other in our boundless imagination. I gave writing my best shot when all my kids got scabies, an itchy, highly contagious skin disease – turning each of my love letters during that exhausting period into a personal narrative essay. My lowest point in that writing experience was when my wife missed for the first time in sending her one love letter to me - imagine the Whys and What Ifs racking my brains that day.

Yesterday, after I clicked and published the first article in my blog, I clicked again to put up a link and posted my maiden article with a good message to the world. The link was deleted at one "giant country" of our cyber world, not for its content, but because of the internet "turf war." Without a link, I can only share my good message by copy-paste-post crude method from my end. From viewers/readers' end, they can read my good message by typing https://atabay-atpb.blogspot.com on their address bar and click -- pinning my hopes on this pipe dream: "If you build they will come."

This hassle is like smuggling Bibles into one "giant country" in our real world that takes many forms: in a handbag where Bible is presumed a personal copy, or across the border using multiple entry visas hauling Bibles in backpacks and suitcases, or by the sea using a custom-built submersible barge.

Amid this present dreary situation, I read the Bible and found this reassuring passage:

"[H]e has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power." (1 Thes 1:4-5).

After reading this passage, I recall again the lyrics of a song: "It's only words and words are all I have to take your heart away."

Dear Reader, now I know what's behind my words that will take your heart away.

 

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Aesthetics by January

Technicals by Lroy