before i turn 28 lemme remind myself that

i'm not a wussy because

 
i did not throw fits when i learned that my parents went bankrupt and that we're losing our family home

when we moved to a much smaller family home i did not weep

that i had to learn how to take the jeepney and i no longer had a driver at 16

that i had to work the washing machine at age 15 and learned that laundry is a happy thing

and that at 17 i had to learn how to work the rice cooker or i'd die of hunger or just eat lettuce

and that i went to uni poor and yet; i sure fit in with a good crowd and met great life-long friends even if i wasn't enrolled in college of business and governance business administration major in management because most of the enrollees there are wealthy but had brains the size of mosquitos

even if my parents are separated, i'm made whole by the very memory of them

[oh yes, i'm a good daughter who is not capable of breaking their hearts]
 

i'll never be a wussy because

i relocated to two cities alone without knowing anyone

i survived family tragedies and illnesses

i learned to write using my right hand when i'm supposed to be left-handed and turned out to be ambidextrose instead of being diagnosed with dyslexia

that at a situation that compromised my being, i could only kid- hey did you get the right angle so when they see me, i'd look pretty?

so there's not a negative feedback from work, not a little heart ache, not a person who can faze me.

 

i'll be 28. and i'll recover.