What’s there not to love about this month?

Of course I am probably biased It’s the one month in the year when practically everyday, there is someone I know who has a birthday maybe we co-Librans just like hanging out with each other. There isn’t an Octoberian I know that I didn’t like. Those of you reading this know who you are

I found this old phtograph of mine while digging through my mother’s trove of old albums. As you get deeper into mid-life that’s one thing you love to do… well, I guess unless you had an unhappy childhood. I must have been four or five here. For the life of me, I can’t remember why nakapayong ako?!? Hindi naman tumutulo ang bubong namin! Maybe gusto ko lang mag-emote.

Childhood photographs always give us a glimpse of our real selves. The persons we were before life became complicated, before we felt we had to adjust our personalities and psyches so that we could be accepted by others. When my daughter saw this photo, she laughed and said, “gosh mom, you we’re such a priss” Who me? Well, take a look at the frou-frou socks and the impish grin. As my friend Anne says, childhood is always the age of innocence.

At mid-life you come to terms with many things, and hopefully, after a long and sometimes arduous process of introspection, you return to the authentic self - the “real you”. The you before life and love became complicated. The you that surfaces after you’ve slain your dragons and rid yourself of the non-essentials. I look at this photograph and I see a familiar smile. “The priss” is finally back in a kinder, wiser form, minus the socks. Thank God!

One movie the kids and I are looking forward to watching is the Dr. Seuss’ classic — “Horton Hears A Who”. Dr. Seuss is an amazing storyteller and though I didn’t like recent films of past — “The Grinch…” and “The Cat In the Hat” — this one promises to be different. Dr. Seuss is skilled in creating stories that are conversation starters for parents to discuss deeper issues with children such as faith, self-esteem and respect. I would put this on every parent’s to-watch movie for the summer.

A Christianity Today movie review says — “Horton, from the creators of Ice Age, is just about what it would look like if Dr. Seuss’ imagination collided with live action, a sort of psychedelic smorgasbord of intensely colored and peculiarly imagined creatures, landscapes and props that allows Seuss’ effervescent creativity to come to life as it never has before.”

“Dr. Seuss had the matchless ability to distill complex issues into clear and comprehensible philosophical declarations that kids and adults alike could easily understand. Horton is supercharged with a number of such positive messages. It is a story of resolute faithfulness and diligence in the face of overwhelming peer pressure. It would have been very easy for Horton to give up when the going got tough, but after all, “an elephant’s faithful 100 percent.”

Jim Carey returns as the voice of Horton and veteran comedienne Carol Burnett, voices Horton’s nemesis, the Sour Kangaroo. Expect laughter and fun to abound in this heartwarming and inspiring movie.

Cupcake is a three-month old “SCHNORKIE”, born on October 3, 2007 — yes, magka-birth month pa kami — that H bought me as his Christmas, anniversary and Valentine’s day gift. Last year, two of our beloved dogs died — Macky (for Macapagal) our Basset Hound and Bush, our Labrador Retriever. It was a sad year for us. For a while I did not want to get anymore dogs because I didn’t want to grieve over another loss. We were happy with Pare (for Erap) even if he could be such a prissy and proud dog most of the time. However, in the last month or so, my desire to have a new puppy grew stronger by the day. When H and I saw the ad for Schnorkie’s posted at the Ateneo, we immediately went to visit her kennel in White Plains and right away, it was love at first sight.

A Schnorkie is a designer dog, a cross between a Mini-Schnauzer (her papa)and a Yorkie (her mama. Cupcake is a really smart puppy and this early I can tell that she got the best traits of her mama and papa. Her breed is sociable, bold, loves their families, highly intelligent, totally incompatible with cats, are great “ratters”, make keen watchdogs (in spite of their diminutive size) but aregenerally polite with people, and very loving to their owners, spirited and extremely loyal.

The last few days I’ve been busy crate training her and so far we have made major success. She’s really one smart cookie, this cupcake. This one has been my constant companion, always seated or sleeping by my feet as I read or work on the PC like right now. Her ears are so cute, it’s like she has a pair of pigtails. I’m so excited to see her grow See more of Cupcake here.