My Birthday Rectorship

When I was announced as rector last August 05 (at the exact 2-year mark of my anniversary at Days) I was shocked, confused and ecstatic. It was truly a dream come true and a very big honor, but after my ActCom stint I never really expected this blessing to be granted anymore. Kuya Jess really works in perfect timing--I realized I would be able to host it during my birthday weekend! I knew then that there's no other way I'd rather spend my birthday than serve Jess and my new babies..

I started early with preparations.. the next day pa lang ata I was on the phone already with Mommy Rach and drafting already my list of talkers, staffers, and prospective babies. Even though my mind was running with ideas for my batch, my focus then was Mel's Batch 17 and finding a venue for her. After gazillions of tiring oculars, we found a suitable venue finally. I had a great time serving her and my new pamangkins with Ava Toink. It was really tough to be VR, but with Ava and Mel and Mommy Rach and all the staffers, we were able to pull through.

December came and I realized that though Miyagi was able to get our old venue back, I still would not be able to host it there on my birthday weekend because of a campus ministry event. It sucked big time because all of my dreams and plans were centered on it. And then came another big blow--St. Scho c/o Cheboy was also hosting their batch on the last weekend of January! Can i survive without Lola Isa, Tita Jedi, Cheboy, and the Kulasa dazers? That's about a quarter of days staffers who won't be able to go full-time for my batch! When it finally sank in that I didn't have both a venue and a date, I went on hiatus from the community. I felt so tired trying to fix everything, making sure that everything's perfect but it seems like the whole universe is conspiring against me! I wanted to give up the batch already. I was so emotionally frustrated.

Only thing is, I was never a quitter. It was so tough, but good thing Mommy Rach was always there para kulitin ako on the things I have yet to do. Plus Cheboy suddenly pressured me to invite talkers already because she just finished hers! Adrenaline rush ito! I guess it was also the start of a new year that I realized I had a clean slate, a newer perspective to work with, so with a line-up of 23 participants, I started to catch up with the workload.

I prayed and weighed all the odds and decided that without a venue, I still wanted to celebrate my birthday with a DAYS weekend, so Jan 26-28 was firmed up (besides, I would lose my sponsors, staffers and participants if i moved it on another date anyway!). Thanks to Bong, I found a venue and realized for the first time that I can visibly see things working out. A week before the actual batch however, I was down to 15 participants and the list keeps on trimming down! Plus I found out that we might have no materials because our supplier had no more stocks! I was so devastated! Grabe ang sindakan na inabot ko kay Kuya Jess during the last week, but I held on and prayed and hoped for the best. Thursday night, I had 10 participants which is actually a good number. I was psyching myself that it was a good number, that maybe Jess really wanted me to handle this number and this particular group of girls for a reason. I had Sweet, Romnick, Happy and Pugo, and that was an all-star line-up already. I took a deep breath. Ikaw na Bahala, Kuya Jess. I was good to go.

Sure, every batch has their own stories and unexpected crisis (we can laugh about it now but at that time I was so stressed trying to find replacements!). My participants were Uber pasaway and were not sharing as much as I hoped they would. Even if not everything went according to plan and there were moments that were probably overrated, I realize now that the whole experience went perfectly according to His will. And there's not a moment that I would change.

But there were good surprises as well, some in the form of birthday gifts--streamers from Ditas, banner-ups and thank you cards from Moch, pink roses from Milo, choco mousse cake from Jun, my batch song from Miyagi--and some in the form of surprise visitors. All the aiesecers were there (balik-loob!), even Javi and Drew. Old friends from Yuppies came to lecture and support (hehe).. even old Dazers like Erwin, Tita Jedi, Mara and Van. There were several texts from well-wishers, even from other communities like PSBA and DLSU. Ang dami ring food--thanks to everyone who donated and sponsored! Thanks to my family who shouldered my birthday blow-out as well. Thank you to Father Bogey for that heartfelt Celebration. Thanks to my SFX, ang purple-musical at ang kikay ng lahat! haha! Thanks to Yuppies for a heartfelt P-night, complete with white balloons and flute and violins (just like I imagined it!). Thank you to Marla and Sabs for working so hard and for being patient with my kakulitan.. you girls are my saving grace. Thank you to the sponsors for my magical circle of 10 babies, and to the staffers for all your help and for serving so selflessly during the weekend. I owe so many people my gratitude for an amazing weekend--If not for current rectors like Cheboy, Miyagi and Mike, my CORE mentors Rach, Chewey, Macky and Milo, all the staffers and sponsors and my family who became my source of inspiration and sanity during those last months, I would have certainly crumbled under the stress and pressure!

But I'm most thankful for my babies--they were the best birthday gifts that Jess has blessed me with. I always thought that being rector was a dream come true because everyone would be celebrating and praying for you, with the whole weekend planned according to your every whimsical desire. But in truth, being a rector is an overwhelmingly humbling experience--to be Jess' instrument, to be Him personified for three days so you may bring people closer to Him, to be able to fulfill your life's mission of concretely touching and changing other people's lives, is both a challenging responsibility and a truly unique gift. I was so touched with how my babies and I shared our last disco (albeit short) and how we all kept in contact during our 4th day. Though we all started as strangers, I'm amazed by how much love I have for them, like I've known them since childhood. Being a mommy means that I now share in each and every joy and pain that they have, as long as they let me.. and I welcome all of that. Now, I know in my heart that the rectorship is something I will truly treasure forever--not just the weekend (for that's only the highlight of the experience!), but also the whole preparation months before and the 4th days that lie ahead. The sacrifices, the stress, the joys and the blessings in totality is a gift I wouldn't trade for anything. Weeks after I can still experience the High, because of these participants and staffers and everything that we've learned from the weekend and from each other. I'm looking forward to our Baclaran/Starbucks/Yuppie reunions together!

Basta Kayo mga Anak, Basta Kayong mga Dazers... a thousand times over. Basta Ikaw Lord! :-)