LITTLE KATIE

*KATIE* (left), as she was photographed with a classmate, appeared in this billboard of SCHOLASTIC PUBLICATION when they had a book fair at her school @ ST. PAUL PASIG in the Philippines last March 2008. Nobody knew she was a model for Scholastic Publiction until her sister YSSA saw the billboard with her sister pictured in it. Ayayay! For this spread, KATIE's talent fee was three pieces of books from the international publication. Can you imagine that? She had it all PRO BONO. Santa Banana!
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Last Sunday, husband and I were still at Holiday Inn in Houston, Texas because of the program we attended relative to writing and public speaking. Anyhow, it began Friday evening last week and ended after lunch this week (Monday). During our breaktime, I checked out my voice mail and text messages. Realizing I had just received a text message from my brother who is in the country with his family (two daughters and wife), I was excited to read what's up and about with them. He informed me then that they are now in California. In his short note he indicated that his younger daughter KATIE, who turned six last December, thought she was short changed by her dad. Why? Well, at the time when my brother's family was in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania- the weather had been great he said. His two kids, YSSA and KATIE loved the weather and the different places they visited. Both adore New York he said, because they like city life and the energy big cities like New York brings in. They enjoyed the rides in the subway, not that they really like it, but the thrill of going up and down the escalator was fun for them. Also, they enjoyed Central Park and the Museum of Natural History. All seemed okay until they travelled to the West Coast. Things changed. Touching down in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, the temperature went up in L.A. and SAN DIEGO area. It was muggy as in the tropics. Once in the homestead of their hosts, KATIE got annoyed, somewhat and asked her dad,

"ARE WE REALLY IN AMERICA, DAD? HOW COME IT IS SO HOT HERE? I THINK WE ARE IN MANILA! I DON'T LIKE IT!"

Poor Katie. She had enough of the heat in Manila! It was funny the way she thought about everything from her perspective as a child. (Now, isn't she smart to notice the similarities in terms of the weather?) She is just six and very articulate! I spoke to her on the phone for a couple of minutes then she was silent. Suddenly, a burst of noise came by from her computer game, screaming on my phone. Yikes! Her older sister YSSA said that KATIE has been so engrossed playing Nitendo. Everyone, in effect, was teasing Katie that she might ended up having lazy/cross eyes because of too much techno game stuff she has been up to! But that didn't help. She went on and on and just said, "Bye..." in a high pitched tone.

YSSA on the other hand, seemed to be acclimatizing better than her sister. She sounded at ease and cool. Her voice timbre had become deeper (this is typical of women in our family). Initially, I thought she sounded like her mom but after a while longer, it dawned on me that she just sounded like the rest of my younger sisters. So far, our connection altogether was good. I was able to speak with my sister-in-law as well.

Husband and I were driving by the freeway from the airport when I made the call. We were on our way home.

All four of them have yet another week to explore Southern California then their vacation is over. This whole trip should be an enriching experience for these two girls who are indeed very fortunate to travel this early in their life. I didn't start jetsetting until I was in my 30s. And it was initially in the Far East and not the continental USA!

*YSSA*, during one of her family outings last March