Kaban ng Tuwa

I'm preparing for tomorrow's trip with Dona and Ning to Cabanatuan City. Tito Doc says that Cabanatuan comes from the phrase, "Kaban ng Tuwa"; this is also the name of the newsletter of its Diocese, the maiden issue of which Big Dipper helped produce in time for Easter earlier this month.

Tito Doc, the eldest among my uncles and aunts, is a cardiologist who is based in the city. He's a great storyteller: the story of how he built the best hotel there is here. Incidentally, there was a storytelling workshop in CIC last week- it was part of the National Book Development Board's Booklatan ng Bayan, of which Voltaire Veneracion & Associates was a co-sponsor.

During the summer before 4th grade, I became fascinated by a microscope in the laboratory of the hospital where Tito Doc served as medical director. Tatay told me that if I made it to the top 5 students of my class, he would buy me a microscope. I must have studied hard because, despite some learning challenges, my grade point average leaped from outside the top 10 into the magic 5: Tatay, probably surprised, ended up buying a new TV instead of the microscope, but by then I had already learned to enjoy being an honor student.

Tito Doc has a huge heart that overflows with love- I must have caught a lot of it because I never seem to run out of supply to give! Two secrets to happiness I verified from his Kaban are, first, that the best antidote to fear is appreciation and, second, that in any unbalanced relationship- that is, in most or all relationships- the person who loves more is the luckier one.

Thanks to CIC Chorale for the song "Heal the World" in the podcast.