Woke up early today, I was already in LTO at 8am. By 9am, I am done with my written exam and in the taxi going to the office. The taxi driver seemed to be a nice guy. He was quite talkative though, he started telling me stories of the traffic jam in Dangwa (famous area where flowers are sold). It was quite expected, given that it’s valentines day. Roses that used to cost 5 to 10 pesos each, now costs 30 to 50 per piece. He then told me the story about the flower vendor who rode in his taxi the previous night and how lucky he was – he was able to buy 6 roses for only 50 pesos. He gave the roses to his wife when he got home that night… an early valentines present. It was funny that how some women would actually wish that they receive flowers (ehem ehem), most married women would prefer that the money used to buy the flowers were put into practical use, like buying food for their family. He was quite right, I guess when you get into that stage of your life, you get to realize there’s more to life than just gifts or flowers. There are other more valuable things – time spent with loved ones, seeing them happy or just being in the moment.

He then told me the story of how he and his wife met. The challenges he had to endure because of the cultural differences. His wife came from a rich, Chinese family, while his was just an average family living in Tondo. He said that everything was all worth it and he had no regrets in terms of fighting for their love.. Sounds too cheesy? But he was right, they are still happily married after 19years.. and they have 2 wonderful and loving daughters. I felt like I already knew a lot about their family.. (what do you expect, there was a traffic jam.. so instead of just staring blankly in the cars outside, I decided to continue talking to the taxi driver.) He said that his wife gave up a lot of things for him, and this includes her costly-way of living. He said that he tried a lot of jobs, and at some point worked abroad for his family, but it just made things difficult for him. Living far from his love ones… He decided to come back to Manila and work as a taxi driver. It pays just enough for their day-to-day living. Just having enough is okay.. having a lot of money doesn’t make one happy and sometimes shortcomings test relationships or for most people, brings couples closer. Sometimes having extra money can even cause conflict, since one can have extra money to spend for their vices. But if you have none, couples would just stay at home or go places that are not expensive – because the important thing is who you’re with, not where you are. You can travel the world, stay in nice hotels, eat savory food, but if you’re not with the one you love – none of that will make you happy, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself. I learned a valuable from the taxi driver today…a very timely lesson. :-)

Valentines Date? Nope, didn't have one and it's fine. :-) We can make each day a valentines day.

posted by celgee @ Thursday, February 15, 2007

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