What I Did For Blog

Now it can be told. 

It all started when I made "Sankaya", baked custard inside a pumpkin. It was after thanksgiving and I made a post on Facebook telling my friends, especially those who live abroad to turn their decorative pumpkins into food.  

You see, I got these butternut squash on sale, and I thought they would be nice to display on my fruit tray.  I love to decorate with the "natural", and that explains my fondness for twigs and dried flowers as well. 

Then I saw a celebrity chef make Sankaya on tv and I wanted to try it. 

When my younger daughter saw the post she said that it is better appreciated in a blog and encouraged me to start blogging. She set up my account and sent me the data I needed to start. She gave me the necessary precautions on security and told me "not to post our family recipes, that's our secret", she said.  I followed her instructions, logged in and I was on my way!

By coincidence, a friend from kindergarten whom I haven't seen since high school came to visit and that gave me my first topic. 

 I was able to publish my second blog right away.  Everything seemed okay, my children gave words of praise and encouragement and urged me to go on.  My blog guru said:  "It's actually good"; "go on Mom, express yourself" said another and the eldest said: "it's well written, continue writing, it is therapeutic".

But the challenge was yet to come! 

 When I was about to publish my third blog, it all came out in one large paragraph! What did I do, everything seemed to be going fine, what now?  Who else would I turn to but my daughter, my blog guru, the creator of this project?  Of course I took time asking her, even though I was so restless and impatient to get going again for I knew she's so busy at work to bother her with my personal whim. 

After asking several questions, she said she can't help me, she doesn't know exactly what I did; so I have to resolve that myself.  What? I was stunned, all I wanted was for her to restore it to the original set up, the way I had it in the beginning. But NO!  She can't!  Oh, wow, is that it?  There goes my blog! 

I won't pretend, I'm definitely not a computer savvy:  just putting pictures to my blog is a trial-and-error thing, I just grope.  That's how some of us in my generation are; we depend a lot on our children or younger friends to guide us; we were educated without google and Wikipedia, remember?  But we try to keep up with the times because we know that the computer is here to stay; that everything in the future may depend on it. 

Now, can you appreciate my dilemma?

So what shall I do now?, I asked myself.   I thought about asking my other daughter, the one who set up my Facebook account and my Facebook guru. But NO, she doesn't know blogs! 

I left it for a while, then my blog guru said "look for alternative ways. Those things doesn't always work";  "Try to copy-paste; use your laptop, I use that when I make my blogs".  So I booted my laptop and several things started popping up, and I realized I haven't opened it since I got my iPad.  I was so confused...and I felt so helpless.  I also wanted to cry and be angry but then I thought, what good will it do? 

Then I recalled the purpose of my blog that I pledged "to be open-minded to experience the new and be optimistic in every situation".  So, being angry was out. 

But I knew I wasn't giving up, "I'll find a way", I told myself; but I wasn't telling anyone. 

Then my blog guru even challenged me, "are you going to give up, just for that?" And I thought, why should I?  But when she said that, I suspected she knew how to solve my problem and was tempted to help me already but she held back.  Having no one to turn to, my only recourse was Google. It took me sometime; read plenty of help instructions; went through as many comments of users on the matter as I could find; and eventually  after a lot of trial and error here and there, Whew! 

I finality made it right. On my own! 

Did I spill my guts out here? 

In retrospect, maybe my daughter was right after all; she didn't want to give me all the answers thinking that it would be best to discover it myself. It might not have been easy for her as well knowing that I was anxious.  Did she chose between giving me fish or teaching me how to fish?  Maybe. But was it worth my anxiety? And my sleepless nights?  Well, I guess my daughter knows me better than I know myself; that she knew all along that I would rise above the issue.  Whatever her reason, it doesn't matter now.  I feel I should even thank her.  And I remember the quote that I like:

"What is a triumph that is easily won?  Victory from the bitter dredge of life is the sweetest victory to me" 

As they say, "all is well that ends well". 

And my blog goes on!