fleeing from your life

when you're an ER doctor, your free time is priceless. it is untouchable. nobody should be able to dictate how you spend it. except of course, if there's a mass casualty, then your ass belongs to the chief. she/he can haul it to the ER in a snap, and she won't hear a peep from you. ideally, of course. and the free time is your chance to forget, albeit temporarily, the woes that you constantly face in the ER. H1N1, demanding patients, scary only-God-knows cases, and arrests. so i've entitled my first blog FLEEING FROM YOUR LIFE...to celebrate an attempt to do so while i'm on my leave.

so when june 26 arrived, and my leave started, my plans to flee from my real life started. my first destination was tagaytay with my family. we stayed at royal taal inn, with a pretty good view of taal :) the steps were grueling for my dad. i thought he was gonna go into heart failure because of em, but otherwise, the inn was fine. anyhow, it was just a place to sleep in. we started the day with sonya's garden. the salad was good, but i suppose the company was better. hahaha. i wasn't impressed with the choices or the dressing. the bread was alright, and the pesto even better. the pasta was okay, but again, not spectacular. i enjoyed watching the staff prepare the aisle and the altar for what looked like a simple traditional wedding. after the pasta, we were served sweet potato, turon, chocolate cake.

after the lunch, we went back to the inn and went splanchnic. we napped the afternoon away, to make up for the early trip from pampanga. when we awoke, we hung out for a bit, and got ready for dinner at antonio's. last i was there was when my brother and his wife got married. that was 2004, methinks. so of course, i forgot where it was situated. ate rhea had a vague idea where it was, but she wasn't sure. so we SLOWLY drove through tagaytay traffic, and finally found it. it started raining when we got there, but it didn't dampen our mood at all. it was great to be back. a bit of nostalgia touching me as i recalled my brother's reception. as usual, service was impeccable, and the selection, impressive. dad got the steak, mom got the seafood, ate rhea and i got lamb. we all tried each other's choices, and were satisfied. the salad, needless to say, was delish...raspberry vinaigrette! and dessert was composed of four choices. panna cotta, a frozen mousse with a name i cant recall, poached pear, and hmmm...was it ice cream? dang...

anyhow, point is, it's great food. it's the only restaurant i know that commands and justifies those prices. service, taste, ambience...impressive. so thanks, ate rhea! your money went a loooong way on that trip. :)

taking a trip with family has always been a treat for me. the last one we took was north, with my eldest sister and bro, when they were still single. that was more fun, because we were all there, to begin with. i hope we can still do that in the future. the country, and the time, are still unknown, but i hope it will happen. i miss my sister and her family. my brother and his family are still in the country, and i hope they can join us in the next family vacation.

in the middle of my freedom from the ER, i cherish the things i can't usually do. i love to cook, and i did that for brunch and dinner. i plan to see old friends i haven't seen in a while. maybe visit my best friend in pampanga, or go out with people i haven't gone out with in a while. MAYBE. fleeing from life isn't that simple. you never forget. you just get distracted for a while. and you realize you will eventually go back to your old life and DEAL with whatever it was you left hanging there before you fled. be it paper work, your pending contract, or impending doom. believe me, IT WILL STILL BE THERE.

on july 2, i left for my first trip to boracay and the second part of my temporary freedom. stay tuned for the details. thats my next installment. meantime, keep the peace, and keep it simple (",)v