Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Rewind - Part II

On a lighter note, Obiwan turned 1 year old last December 5. I have a 1 year old boy. We celebrated his birthday last December 6, 2009 at Jay-J's Inasal in Metrowalk, Pasig City. It's far from a normal 1 year old birthday but I didn't want to have a children's party for Obiwan. For one thing, I didn't have the budget for it. Children's parties are unbelievable expensive. And the guest turn out would be like that of his baptism, it's not worth it. And my closest friends do not have children of their own or at least not that many that would constitute a children's party. And because Obiwan won't be able to join any of the games anyway.

So, I decided to have a lunch with family and the closest friends instead. Basically, it's my immediate family, my aunt from Bulacan, Obiwan's godparents, friends from high school who I'm still in touch with and their plus ones. Less than 20 people were there. But it's great. I seldom get to have everyone close to me in one place. These are the people I know will be part of Obiwan's life in the future.

Obiwan had a great time. He was happy with all the attention he got. He was his day and everyone made sure he knew it. He hasn't quite mastered opening gifts on his own but he's getting there. People sang to him and he had a cake. All in all, it was a very enjoyable time for everyone.

Pictures to follow...

Rewind - Part I

I owe this blog an update. A lot has happened at work and I've been preoccupied with the changes that although I haven't forgotten about Obiwan, blogging time hasn't been that much. It just so happened that I woke early today and I have some time. It was either blog or do laundry.

Around mid November Obiwan's mother asked to visit him. I haven't talked about Obiwan's mother in this blog on purpose. Frankly because I didn't know what to say. But this time I guess there's no getting around it. For the purpose of this blog and since I can't keep referring to her as Obiwan's mother, we'll call her J.

Now, J asked to visit Obiwan. This scared me. Before Obiwan was born, everyone who knew I was going to get custody was asking me if J was sure because she might change her mind when she saw him. It was like everyone was watching the same soap opera when the heroine would be separated from her child and would go through great lengths of getting back the child. I didn't want to give in to that thought but it really is a scary thought.

But I didn't want to be a jerk and if she wanted to see him, maybe nothing bad would come of it. So I said yes. If I'm not mistaken, it was a Monday when we decided that I was going to bring J to visit Obiwan. Both my parents were home and there was a little bit of tension and awkwardness in the whole house. It was the first time for J and my dad to meet. He was out of the country when we picked Obiwan up from the hospital. My dad can be a little intimidating when meeting him for the first time. He really wanted to give a good impression to J. My mom was also a little on edge. And I saw that J felt a little out of place being in someone else's house.

Basically it was hours of small talk and half-meant laughter and awkward smiling. They were strangers to each other but the situation called for people to be closer than they were comfortable with. And I was in the middle of it. But the day soon ended with Obiwan still in his playpen at home. And everyone breathed a sigh of relief that their worst fears were just figments of their imagination. But then everyone would realize that it was just 1 day and everything would relive itself the next time J visited.

This has been too long already. Part II next time.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday Obiwan

Obiwan is 1 year old! How time flies.