THE ONE WHERE I TURNED 22!

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January 14,2000 was the day God decided for me to finally see the world. I was born in Camp Lapu-Lapu Central Command which is a military base in Lahug, Cebu City where my father was assigned when he was still in service. I was the only baby that was being born during that day so there is no doubt that I am a real daughter of my parents which is why my sister can't bully me into thinking I'm an orphan because she is more likely to be one than I am hahahaha. Kidding aside, 22 years of experience in life is genuinely a blessing. I do appreciate the fact that God has given me a supportive family and friends whom I can always rely on.

Drama Aside! Let me show you how I celebrated my 22nd birthday. Let’s Go!

A day before my birthday (January 13) I was surprised by my friends. I was sleeping by the swing when they suddenly showed up saying we should have an early celebration and eat outside since my birthday was considered as under alert level 3 due to the Omicron Strain. We went to our favorite Korean Restaurant place, “Samgyupsalamat”. We also went to a milk tea place after to catch up even more.

Despite the fact that it was not my birthday, I had a great time. It's nice to have people who wish to join you in celebrating your special day.

During my birthday, first thing that I did is to go to church. Since my birthday is a few days before the Sinulog Festival (an annual cultural and religious event on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City) it is expected that many people would come to the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu church. So I took a long queue to be able to light a candle. I used to attend the feast's Novena Mass before the pandemic, but owing to our current difficulties, everyone who comes to the church can just light a candle on the pilgrim.

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So yeah I have a story about what happened when I lit the candles. Usually, I would get candles based on the number of wishes I have. I do have four wishes for my birthday so I got four candles.

My wishes were:
Candle 1: End of Covid-19 Pandemic
Candle 2: To Graduate
Candle 3: To finally have a decent Love Life
Candle 4: Peace on earth

When I lit them I closed my eyes to pray, and when I opened my eyes I realized my love life desire can no longer be fulfilled since the candle I had lit had for it burned out.

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Maybe it was God’s way of telling me that I should stop looking for love it’s never going to happen hahahaha. At least God might fulfill my other 3 wishes. Kidding aside, after I went to the church I bought some gifts for me and ate with myself as well. I also told my mom not to have an extravagant celebration since we still have a house to build (Typhoon Odette remember?) and yeah I’m also old already. So what we did is we just bought roasted chicken for my other relatives and neighbors.

And yeah I appreciate the fact that my father’s favorite child (his chicken) was being turned into a delicious meal. That was a big sacrifice hahahahah.

I blew a birthday candle LAMP (because we still don’t have electricity during that time and we can’t see a birthday candle anywhere). Thanks to my cousin as well for buying me my favorite red velvet cake.

My day ended with a big smile on my face and before I forgot it did not end on that day yet. My sister promised that we would go out on weekend because she will treat me. That was Sinulog day when we went out. We first went to Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu church but there were too many people so we just lit a candle outside then left. We then went to SM Cebu to eat lunch then she bought me some stuff. My sister used to chastise me for buying too many items that I didn't need. Now since she's the one who buys for me, she'll follow me around every time I pick what I want for her to pay less (everytime I go to Watson's or buy something alone I still always hear her voices in my head saying "DON'T BUY THAT IT'S NOT WORTH IT") but I am so thankful and happy though.

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I used to look forward to my birthday when I was younger, but now that I'm getting older, it starts to seem like a typical day, but for about 20% better hahahaha. I began to value the worth of people's presence over the value of presents.

Thanks everyone for reading! Time to pack up "Drama" Ends and CUT!

_{Erika the Drama tells a story of an extrovert 21-year-old woman and all of her shenanigans in life involving the ups and downs, bad and good decisions, and her ways on keeping her life interesting. She is outgoing, decisive, sociable, boisterous, and loves to have fun. Her major ambition in life is to live with a sense of purpose (not household chores related, she's too lazy to wash the dishes). She loves and adores talking to people to gain different perspectives plus she can be good at making dumb conversations. She has a very curious mind and is very inquisitive. As the phrase goes, "Minds are like parachutes; they only function when open", she believes that having a close mind faces nothing but a disaster. Join her as she embarks on every journey of life and learns the most important lessons from it together.

If you want to read more of her stories, an upvote, comment, follow, and reblog would be very much appreciated. Thank you!}