Hi everyone,

I had only a few winks last night on account of my Belgian Malinois dog’s delivery of a litter of ten coffee-colored puppies, her first.  She delivered over a span of 12 hours from 10 pm last night to 10 am today.  She would give a sound that is a combination of a belch, a grunt and a fart and out comes a balut looking pup rolled up fetus like and covered with amniotic sac which the mother would gobble up with relish because if it looks like balut it must taste like balut.  To prevent her stepping on the puppy, I would pick it up saying koochie-koochie to the mother to signify my intentions and she would let me take it away but not without a fight.  She doesn’t really fight, she only makes it hard for me by walking around the cage with the puppy in her mouth, after all the puppy’s hers.

When I finally get the puppy, I would wipe it dry, and cut the umbilical cord two inches from the abdomen, squeezing the part near the body to stop a blood spurt.  All of these were witnessed by Baby my wife and Agee and Maud, with photo coverage and the sound of upended stomachs.

When the puppies were laid it on the holding pen, they all looked alike, and I figured while I was thinking of what to write here that we all looked alike in Naga from afar, puppies of the same color, same sounds, practically the same until you pick one of us up and you will notice that this likes this and that one dislikes this, this one has a spot here, that one doesn’t.

With the advent of the twin muses Glenn and Naty and the vigor of Alenn and Mags in whipping up a guffaw, and the wise interventions and summaries of the Modie, this e-group has returned us to the same litter where we all came from.  The same humor, the same hidden meanings, the same language is used as if we were back in the litter, laughing to our hearts’ content and watching each other grow.

With one difference.  We have become more demonstrative with our feelings to each other.  In the prayer community where I belong, every time we have a time of affirmation, most of us would even cry for we would hear sweet somethings from unexpected sources, saying this and that that would send our hearts soaring with the spirit of appreciation.

In this e-group, we affirm each other left and right, up and down, front and center.  The puppies in the litter at home would lick each other and huddle close to one another as soon as the umbilical cords were cut, a picture which pleases God, and we do the same thing.

This writeup is a tribute to our spirit of togetherness and, I’ll say it, love.

Thank you, everyone.

Love matters,