The Yuckies!

* Traded couches with a friend. Her couch fit my house better and my couch fit her house and decor better. What do you think?

The past day and a half I have been held up in bed with the yuckies. I'm always getting sick. The medicine I have to take for my adrenal stuff lowers my immunity. There's a pro and con to everything.

Spoke to Gerwin here and there. He is off still in Dubai serving the United States. The more I talk to him the more greateful it makes me for the life I have. Not saying I wasn't greatful for the life I have been given, just saying he really puts things into perspective. The internal turmoil he goes thru between loving his family and his 'adoptive' family. The turmoil of not really feeling like you have a true 'home'. Not only did he move from the Philippines when he was 9 but once he got to the US, he and his adoptive family bounced around moving from one place to another. He has never known security as I have. Granted, my dad was transferred but not once did I ever feel as if I didn't belong somewhere. Wherever my parents were was home. Wherever my family is, that's home to me. Gerwin doesn't seem to have that. He is VERY wise and knowledgeable. His views on his life and others really open your eyes.

Here is an insert from one of our email correspondence. Talking about being human.

TEN RULES FOR BEHING HUMAN

I. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.

II. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."

III. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

IV. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

V. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

VI. "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

VII. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

VIII. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

IX. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

X. You will forget all this; this itself is but a lesson.

Gerwin is an amazing young man. I look forward to reading his long emails. Always refers to me as 'sis'. We never end our emails with 'goodbye', it's always 'until next time'. I feel a great connection with him as a brother although he truly is not. Together we are learning about each other's lives, the pros and cons of being adopted at a young age and being adopted at an older age. I do consider myself lucky to be adopted early on in life; however, reading about him reminiscing about the Philippines does make me slightly jealous.