Channeling Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A cottage by the sea

I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I love Anne Morrow Lindbergh. 

She and I, we both lost our sons very early in our lives. I'd like to think that it was partly her grief that fueled so much great writing. That's exactly what I'm trying to do do here, leaving Manila behind and opting to live by the sea for close to a week to find the inspiration that will give me my second wind on the last leg of writing my thesis about grieving mothers. So help me Anne, and help me God.

I write from the terrace of my little cottage by the sea, under the shelter of towering Talisay trees, listening to the gentle waves at play on the shore just beneath me. I'm on an island in the southern part of the Philippines, in a place that my father used to frequent as a young boy.  The property where this quaint and charming resort stands belongs to the family of my father's boyhood best friend. Both of them are in heaven now. 


I find great solace and inspiration here. In the mornings it is so peaceful and my bedroom faces the sea and each day I wake to a gentle, peach-orange sunrise. Barefoot, I walk out onto the terrace and sit on a rocking chair as I gaze out on a vast and endless sea.


There's something about being by the water that always helps me write. Perhaps I was a mermaid in a previous life? :-)  But always, my best writing is completed when I have solitude by the sea. In the mornings or late afternoons, I take long leisurely walks on the pantalan when everything is quiet. And in the evenings, I have meals with myself under a blanket of skies filled by a thousand stars.


Anne Morrow Lindbergh was spot on when she said -- 
"If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments."  

Ah, there's that word again -- surrender. 

Excuse me now, as take a break from wading through the grief, and surrender to the call of the beach below my window.  See you later...



 

My Mother's World

And so I have finally set foot in my mother's world. Well, sort of.

I haven't become an actress as one of my closest friends joked, but I now find myself working side by side with people from the industry that has been a part of her life for almost half a century now.

I thought it would be awkward, but to my surprise, I immediately felt at home. I guess in that sense, I am her daughter. For the longest time, while growing up, she sheltered me from her industry, but I guess eventually finding myself part of  her world (but not quite) was inevitable. The board is composed of 30 members, some of them have been there for a really long time -- pillars in the industry, masters of their craft and highly respected. It's an interesting mix actually and I look forward to working with each and every one of them in time. PDI ran a list of the board's new members in yesterday's paper.

I've always loved movies so it's a thrill and great honor for me to be a part of the new Movie Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) -- and a huge responsibility to ensure that the movies and television shows that our children view are rated properly.

It was interesting to finally meet other children of show business --  Grace Poe- Llamanzares, our Chair and Liezl Martinez  who is a board newbie like me, met for the very first time today. In spite of the fact that our parents had known each other for four decades, we had never been introduced.  In my album somewhere, I have an old black and white photo of attending Liezl's 3rd birthday party at their home in New Manila. Other than that, we never had the chance to get to know one another.

New chapters are always interesting when they unfold -- new experiences, a whole new set of characters, a different plot...as they say, abangan.