Saturday Owes Me An Apology
Saturday is supposed to be fun. It’s the day we collectively agree to rest, reset, and pretend we’re not burnt out. It’s the day you look forward to all week. A reward. A gift. A break. Mine ...
Bacolod City’s Garbage Problem: When “Collected” Doesn’t Mean Collected
I live in Bacolod City. I don’t get my information from press releases or carefully worded statements—I get it from walking past the same pile of garbage that’s been sitting on our street longer than ...
Janice at 47: A Vikings Night with High School Amigas
Last January 16, Ralph, Ken, and I attended one of my best friends’ birthday celebration at Vikings Luxury Buffet. And yes—this was my second Vikings invite for the same birthday, just on a different date. ...
ACR I-Card Renewal in the Philippines: When Good News Still Requires Manila and Cebu Travel
During the COVID era, when travel felt like an extreme sport and government paperwork felt even more dangerous, my husband Ralph had to renew his ACR I-Card in Iloilo City. At the time, borders were unpredictable, ...
Grateful, Grounded, and Feeling Deeply Blessed at 47.
I turned 47 today. No midlife crisis. No sudden urge to buy something impractical or announce a brand-new personality. Just me, still standing, slightly wiser, and very aware that aging is really just emotional decluttering with ...
When Google Tells You Your Mother Is Dead
Editor's Note (July 2026): Since publishing this article, I have been contacted by a relative of Sheila Ritoch who shared additional information about Sheila's final years and her desire to reconnect with Ralph. I have ...
From Shy Boy to Runway Boy: I Did NOT See This Coming
If you told me five years ago—heck, even five months ago—that my son Ken Matthew Navarro, the same kid who used to hide behind me when a stranger so much as looked in his direction, ...
Part 4 – Finding the Silver Lining: How the Worst Week of Our Lives Led Us Exactly Where We Needed to Be
If life had a twisted sense of humor — and I’m now convinced it does — then our 16th wedding anniversary was its punchline. After surviving a bone fracture, an ambulance that doubled as a ...
Part 3: The Refund Olympics at BAMC — The Event No One Wants, Needs, or Should Ever Have to Repeat
If anyone ever asks me what rock bottom looks like, I will confidently answer: “It’s waking up at 5AM to rising flood water, a screaming husband with a fresh fracture, and realizing you can’t outrun ...
Part 2: My Rainy Night at Bacolod Adventist Medical Center
After the rollercoaster that was South Bacolod General Hospital & Medical Center, the STYX ambulance finally whisked us away to Bacolod Adventist Medical Center/Bacolod Sanitarium — the only hospital that, after a city-wide medical ghosting ...
Part 1: The Accident, The Ambulance, and The Very Long Wait to Nowhere
If the universe wanted to teach me a lesson about marriage, patience, and why Mondays are cursed, it picked November 24th to drop the entire curriculum on my head. It started like an ordinary rainy Monday ...
If Only We Let Nature Do Its Job
Let’s be honest — at this point, the Philippines should be on a first-name basis with floods. We don’t just get flooded; we bond with them. They come for a visit, stay for weeks, leave ...
