In many advertising agencies years ago, each of those in the creative department would be assigned a partner. A writer would be paired with ...

(An excerpt from my latest book, "The Other Cheek")     Back cover                                                   Front cove...

Over fern-and-tomato salad, my friends Yna, publications director of OMF Lit; Yay, a fellow author; and I talked about our favorite topic: b...

Son #1 pointed out to me the shop of the pest control company in our village. Its name? MALACHI 10:11. Strange. “Why would a pest control ...

A few years back, after I started this blog on grace, I also created its polar opposite, a blog where I would rant and rave—you know the kin...

Seasons change with time; so do our swimming seasons. There is this one resort club of which we have been members since over two decades a...

Marikina used to be famous for bespoke shoes. But the flooding of China-made shoes caused Philippine shoemakers to fade into irrelevance. ...

What are the odds that this could happen? Our wedding anniversary (Tony’s and mine) falls on the same day as that of the anniversary of th...

We had five and a half fruitful years, Pinky and I.  Together we travelled, rushed to beat deadlines, received both good news and bad news f...

"This is my last card," I told my friend Ggie, who accompanied me to have special shoes made in Marikina (the city famous for sh...

Barrettes are hair accessories that were in vogue when I was a little girl. My mom would always clip onto my hair a barrette that matched my...

(Scene: at the drinking fountain, where a student waits for her turn.)  Student: “Hmmm, hot water, Ms. Grace! For your coffee fix?”  M...

Student: “Good morning, Ms. Grace! Do you have a minute?” Me: For you, I have two! Student: I am almost finished with my first novel. I...

“Ms. Grace, Ms. Grace!” one student called out from behind me. He was brandishing sheets of paper. Student: May I ask you a big, big favor...

Our school corridors, all four of them, are where I say “hi” and “goodbye” to students. Once in a while, someone starts a conversation and I...

My foray into blogging began in November 2006 , six years after my first books were published. I therefore had not been able to blog about ...

As of last year, 2018, there are 505 million bloggers in the world.  That number is huge. But I wonder how many of those consistently and pe...

Out of nowhere, someone messaged me asking for some of Annie’s photos. “We are putting together a commemorative book to celebrate our grad...

The artists whose works I love are those that reflect the beauty of God’s creation: Georgia O’Keeffe , Claude Monet, Winslow Homer, Paul Céz...

"Can you lend me P100?" asked Rico, a friend at work. "I have no money for my ride home." He was not asking for a mill...

In its original form, pen pal is a term used for a person with whom you become friendly by exchanging letters—written with a pen and sent vi...

I must have seen close to a million banana trees in my lifetime but none as small as what BoyP (my former colleague and friend) has in his b...

To celebrate Women’s Month, March, my publisher OMFLIt, featured their women authors under the theme or hastag #UnstoppableWomen. For the...

Way back in 1894, a Sunday school/public school teacher, D. T. Miles, in Hopedale, Illinois, felt that time spent on teaching Bible to child...

This number caused me to wake up at dawn so I could freeze it in time. I knew it would come sometime in the morning so I went to bed early s...

Many Christian churches have outreach ministries—usually in communities where poverty-stricken people live. Our church has quite a few, moun...

In the language of millennials, this Facebook hashtag means: what happened, COMELEC? It begs for answers to explain the multiple mishaps and...

It’s been six days since our mid-term elections, and the grief I feel is still lodged deep in my heart. I share this grief with many friends...

That intense feeling of attachment to someone that usually visits young people does not last long. It is romantic love that is transitory, a...