It was Friday dusk at exactly 5:00 PM in November of 2005, in Barangay Nungnungan 1, at Purok 1, Cauayan City — my mother gave birth to a lil' cute baby girl — and yes, that was me.

I was born in my grandmother’s house with the help of our barangay midwife. (Hope y'all are not shocked, because during that year it wasn’t required to give birth in hospitals with doctors and nurses — I guess haha.) They were so happy to see me, especially the younger sister of my mama — my tita. Despite her heart condition, I became her fave pamangkin even though she was mad at my mother for accidentally getting pregnant. Yes, I wasn’t planned — it was my mother and father’s mistake that turned out to be a beautiful mistake.

Since my tita had a heart condition, a lot of relatives and good-hearted people gave her money to buy groceries and medicines. From that money, she bought me cute clothes, diapers, and milk. But then she died when I was in Grade 6 because of her condition. Life continued — my mother tried to go abroad, and my grandmother and grandfather took care of me when I was two years old. That’s why I became lolo’s girl and lola’s girl, hahaha.

But then my mother went home because she couldn’t fight her feelings — she missed us so much. When she came back home, my mama and papa decided to go to Dipaluda, Angadanan, where my father came from, where the mother and father of my father’s side were living. They decided to live there and we started a new life. It was so green, full of trees, a river, corn farms, and the houses were still designed like in the "panahon ng mga Kastila." Yeah, my great grandfather was half-Kastila — and up to now, his house is still there. I was the first niece of my titas and titos — the siblings of my father — and I was spoiled by them just like I was spoiled by my titas and titos on my mother’s side.

I studied there from Grade 1 to Grade 2 and I was an honor student. But going to school was a challenge every day because the school was far away from our house. We needed to walk in the middle of corn and rice farms, then cross a bamboo bridge, and walk again until we finally saw the school. I’d say it was fun and a great experience. I remember when I was in Grade 2, during class dismissal, I was going home with my cousins who were in Grade 4. When we crossed the bamboo bridge, they started to run, and I heard them say they wanted to leave me since it was getting darker — and I couldn’t run! Hahahaha. I started crying but they didn’t care; they just ran ahead of me.

I thank God when my mother and father transferred me to Nungnungan 1 Elementary School, and that’s when we went back to my mother’s place — where I was born. We came back because my mother gave birth to my younger sister. They transferred me after I finished Grade 2.

Life continued but it was different because I had a lil’ sister. I think it’s normal to get jealous of my lil’ sister before, because back then I was the only child and all of the attention was on me. Then there’s my lil’ sister, and the attention was all on her ’cause she’s a baby. My father was a security guard and back then he was destined in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. My mother and lil’ sister went to live there with my papa, and I was left with my grandma and grandpa because of my schooling. They took care of me, guided me, taught me house chores, and spoiled me too haha. I remember when I was in elementary, my grandpa combed my hair before going to school because I always had a hard time combing it myself, so he’s the one who did it for me.

My father and mother with my lil’ sister came back to Isabela after a year, and that was when I was in Grade 5. Every moving-up, my father’s siblings would come to celebrate my achievements. We were so happy back then — life wasn’t too difficult. We could afford to celebrate every birthday and achievement, unlike now when financial crisis is always there. Still, I graduated Grade 6 with honors, and ofc we celebrated it hehe.

I took an exam for the science class when I was in Grade 7 and unexpectedly, I passed! So I got into the Special Science Curriculum from Grade 7 ’til Grade 10. I maintained my grades because the average wasn’t supposed to go below 85. I managed to maintain it back then (proud of myself). I was in Grade 10 when the pandemic started. I had a hard time before joining online classes because we didn’t have Wi-Fi and a laptop for my activities, but I survived it. I graduated G10 but I had some line of 7 grades haha — but at least I passed.

My mother gave birth to our youngest lil’ brother when the pandemic was starting to spread, and they named him Jack Covie hahaha. A year later, my senior high journey started, but it was still in the pandemic era. Before, I didn’t believe in the coronavirus/COVID-19, not until our family experienced it. We had a 14-day home quarantine. When my grandfather had a stroke, they brought him to the hospital and said he had COVID. It was too hard to handle back then, too hard to accept that my lolo would never fetch me ever again, that I wouldn’t hear him talking, cooking for us, and doing everything we once shared. Life changed so much after COVID-19. But I still managed to survive my Grade 11 journey.

It’s like life stopped when the pandemic started and continued after that era. And now, I’m bringing y’all into my Grade 12 era, and I can say it was my best high school experience. I became friends with all of my classmates, but I also had my own circles of friends — one was my circle since Grade 7 but we were in different strands, and the other was my circle in my section.

I was so excited to go to school every day because I was once my classmates’ happy pill hahaha. I loved hearing and seeing them laugh because of me. Besides being the happy pill of my section, I was also a choir member in senior high with my friends hahaha. I was so active in extracurricular activities (for merit hahaha).

By the way, my strand was STEM, and it’s aligned to my course now. And guess what? I graduated with 5 medals hahahaha (didn’t see that coming too). I made my parents proud.

Oh, I almost forgot to say haha — I studied JHS and SHS at Our Lady of the Pillar College–Cauayan.

Fast forward to today: I am now in college, facing a whole new chapter of my life. It’s way different from high school — new people, new challenges, new experiences. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s fun, but that’s just how life is. I’m still the same me, just growing, learning, and slowly chasing the dreams I’ve always carried with me.