50 Days to 50 - Day 1

 Sep 11 - Day 1 to 50

9/11 is a date etched in history.  The lives lost, the destruction, the horrors and the heroes.  It also marks my path towards my 50^th year in 50 days.  Aside from this poignant memory, I’d like to add a personal memory commemorating my 50th year’s journey on planet Earth.  Yes, I’ve lived 18,200 days thus far or 26,208,000 minutes. 

Auspicious events happened on 31^st October 1971.  One notable international news was about Swiss women who voted for the first time for elections of 200 seats in the National Council.  At least 3 women were elected to the Lower House of the Council, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. (3 Swiss Women Win Seats in Parliament", Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1971, p. 5)  Yey for women!

Growing up with brothers and all-male cousins, I had been quite a tomboy as a child.  I enjoyed the outdoors and played with boys a lot.  My first BFF was a boy named Vicente who was three years old when I was two and I lived with my maternal grandparents in Iloilo.  My first pets were a rooster I named “Baduy” and a sow I named “Baday”. 

On 31^st October 1971, Sunday, a young boy by the name of Ayman Munir Kamel, who what six years old then, decided the fate of three Papal candidates of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt.  Bishop Shenouda, Bishop Samuel and the Reverend Timotheus El Makary were the three candidates voted by the Coptic clergymen and whose names were placed inside a silver box.  Ayman was then blindfolded and made the pick in order to fulfill the requirement that the choice represents "the will of God".  Nazir Gayed Roufail, Bishop Anba Shenouda of Abnub, was picked as the 117th Pope at the Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo to replace Pope Cyril VI, who had died on March 9^th that year. . ("Leader Is Chosen by Coptic Church— Blindfolded Boy Pulls Name of Bishop From Box", by Raymond H. Anderson, The New York Times, November 1, 1971, p. 13)

Born into a Catholic family, I also had relatives who were of different religions like Jehovah’s Witness and Aglipay Church.  I have vague memories as a toddler of relatives gathered round some party, drinking tuba or coffee and discussing religion.  On some occasions, these talks could get heated and my maternal great grandmother Felisa or Lola Peling would intervene.  A pious Catholic woman, she was respected by everyone and even feared.  As head of the family, she led the six o’clock Angelus prayers everyday in Latin.  If you weren’t home before 6PM prayers, you are in big trouble.

Speaking of trouble, a bomb caused severe damage to the Post Office Tower in London on October 31, 1971.  At that time,  the Post Office Tower was the tallest building in the UK at 620 feet (190 m). A caller claiming to represent "the Kilburn battalion of the I.R.A." took culpability, Kilburn being a suburb of northwest London with a large Irish population. (“Blast Rips Post office Tower, The Tallest Building in London", The New York Times, October 31, 1971, p. 1)

I was born quietly on a Sunday morning.  My aunt, Lucia had to go early to the Central Market in Bacolod to buy me some baby clothes as my biological mom, her elder sister, Luzviminda hadn’t gotten me any.  She’s been busy working and had even been driving to work till her 9^th month of pregnancy.  It was already the start of a long weekend and everyone was busy preparing food for the feasts of All Saints’ Day (Nov 1) and All Souls’ Day (Nov 2).  I arrived at dawn just before sunrise.   October 31, 1971…50 days from September 11^th…my life would have just begun.