On where I am now

Thinking of the many things I could do to make the business better. Because my parents aren't getting any younger. Because people from our town rely on the business for income. Because everyone needs to see that a sleepy town like Santa Ignacia, Tarlac can. Because the world needs more Filipino designs. Because the planet needs to see what recycling can do.

Thinking of how our business setup is the same as other small businesses in Tarlac or in the country, in general. That locals rely on businesses like ours to eat 3 meals a day, to turn dreams as real as the four walls that keep us safe and the diplomas, certificates, curriculum vitae in our hands. That our respective governments no matter how small the number of people in our employ will somehow recognize how this matters a lot to them. That the materials we use, really just to be discarded as trash can be a family of five's and many families of five's daily breads: the life blood of a community. That much has been done to make something out of nothing, but more to be done to turn something into everything. Everything we need. Everything we want. Everything we live for.

Thinking of what I can do. What I want for myself. What I want for these people who are extensions of my self because they are the reason why I love what I do and I do what I love. Because they are the reason I'm where I am now. Because it was by my parents' dedication to raise good children that I have been placed in the field of design and entrepreneurship. Because it was by my family's and friends' presence that I know what it is to be dependent and independent, and being either or neither in weaknesses and strengths are secondary to a shared experience because family is family. Because it was by the care of my manang (I miss her bitso bitso and her inangit) and her joys and the joys of people like her that have taught me the things that matter. Because it was under the tutelage of my mentors and teachers and personal heroes that I was equipped to hurdle all the challenges that came my way. Because it was by the sweat of these people's brows that I am where I am now, and for that I am immensely thankful.

May I be able to plan for all these things, and that everything will fall into place. That I may have faith in the grand scheme of things, in others, and in myself.

- Written on a bus trip from an exports seminar, 04/26/2018