Turning Fifty-Nine

If you would ask my age, I would do mathematics because I would count my age. For each birthday passed, it was just like an ordinary day. But I make it special by visiting a church, a different once each year and there I hear Mass. Sometimes, I would go on a solo retreat.

Last year, 2020, I was thinking how I would want to celebrate my birthday. But somehow, I was bothered. I didn't know why. Something was just around but I could not identify it. I felt there was something in the air.

March 11. WHO declared a pandemic. In the Philippines, news broke out that the very first case of COVID were identified and the couple died. They were just less than 800 meters away from where I live.

I turned 59 on 11 March – a birthday when I was not able to celebrate with a Holy Mass.