09 December 2008

life's refrain

this is the title of the first book i self-published. i made this for my mom and sis who celebrated their birthdays last 12 nov. my mom turned 75 while my sis turned 40. it was an exciting time as i was able to go home, together with my three other sisters who live in other provinces in the philippines. another sister lives next door to my parents. so there were five of us sisters at the same time at home and what a riot! our two other sibs, another sis and our bro were not able to come home. the pic on the right is the cover of the book. the featured bouquet is a special one.

for my dedication page, i wrote this:

For Mom and Dad,

for all the whispers of joy in the midst of life’s chaos, contributing to life’s refrain

i wrote the following for the preface:

I was planning to call this book something else, with the word ‘stuff’ in it. However, Key said that ‘stuff’ sounds so boring. Then we said that we should get a line from one of the poems or essays in the book. Thus, life’s refrain. If life were a song, I hope that the poems and essays in this book can be its refrain. Just hum it and add la, la, la … The idea of putting these on paper came up as my siblings and I were planning to celebrate our Mom’s diamond birthday this year (2008). Seventy-five years … not just golden but diamond years. Precious, best, forever …


A sister (Marlyn) also shares the same birthday with her. I remember that time way back in November 1968 when we were all expecting Mom to give birth to Marlyn. She waited until the 12th to come out.


My prayer is that through my writings I can convey my love and appreciation for my Mom and my sis, and to all family members.


May your lives be guided by the Lord Almighty day by day and that each day will be filled with gladness and joy as you trust in Him.



8 comments:

Mel Alarilla said...

Hi Carnation,
Thanks for joining Filipinos Unite!!! I will appreciate it more if you could copy and paste the embed code of the banner of Filipinos Unite!!! at my sidebar and place it at your own sidebar. Thanks again and God bless.

Carnation said...

hi mel, already done. pls check

EJ said...

Hello Ms. Carnation, thank you for visiting my oat.

Your Mom is very lucky to have a very loving and compassionate daughter like you..

btw, I am now following your blog..

Anonymous said...

wow, that's so sweet of you. Wish I have your talent...

Anonymous said...

Wow Arlene. Congratulations to your self-published book. That is a lot of hard work and I'm sure that this will be a family treasure as well in many generations to come.

Carnation said...

hi jannette, thanks for the encouragement!

Mariuca said...

Hey Carnation, I love the title of ur book and the preface, oh so beautifully written! :):):)

Carnation said...

hi mariuca, thanks for your wonderful comment!