They Came Too Early

(Yesterday, December 2, was Author's Day at the OMF LIt Bookstore.)

On my way up to the second floor (more than half an hour ahead of schedule), a little girl about 9 years old standing by the entrance scampered away as soon as she saw me. I thought I might have scared her because I looked emaciated, a telling result of my ongoing bout with gastro enteritis since the previous day.

"She's here! She's here!" she told her mom. Before I could sit behind my book table, she came hand-in-hand with her little sister, 2. Mia and Chelsea lit up the first bright lamp of my day.

From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Maya, Ed, and their lovely daughter, Therese. I shrieked with delight and surprise—another bright lamp turned on.

Therese, aside from telling me she reads "What's for Breakfast?" every single day, wrote for me her full name, Ma. Luisa Teresita Alba Suarez Ordono Estrada, Jr. I wondered if it was a bit much to expect from a kid of 9, but Therese did it with pride and flourish.

These were just some of my many reasons for smiling the rest of the hours . . . and for writing incessantly—the rest of my days.