By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I remember your nose where every scent is a curiosity traced in the gardens where passion made them flower or foraged from forests cooked in the kitchen by gourmet fairies I remember your eyes where dreams coasted with tears drying with a kiss from the…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo    A few years ago, I watched The Net, a film about Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) whose identity gets erased by a cabal of shadowy people. She fights, with all her might, to prove that she exists through exhausting, energy-zapping twists and turns. At that time,…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I should be walking with you, here singing with you I should be … I should be … so many “should bes” that may no longer be so I surrender you to the soil again and again you, in each seed in each cutting watch…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo I always take brewed coffee at home, from freshly-ground beans bought from various places, and those sent to us by friends from their travels. On very rare occasions, I have my coffee at McDonald’s. Whenever I do, I remember Philippine National Artist for Literature F. Sionil…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   WHEN I think of the many things I have left undone, I am overwhelmed. For example, if I die or get incapacitated tomorrow, what are the most likely things I want to focus on doing now? Often, I find that the things I want to…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   GO ahead, fall in love. It’s an experience others only dream of, a rollercoaster ride. Treasure the moments, including the falling out, when it happens. If and when it happens, because whether you believe it or not, others do fall, and never get up.  …

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   NO matter how willing you are to help, there will be times when you can’t. Especially when the one you are helping has to perform on her own certain required steps critical to making help possible, and she is unable to comply. Some suggested the…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   IT was about ten o’clock in the evening and we were told that The Patio operates only until eleven. We had the option to go home, but his mother wanted to treat him to a good meal at the University Hotel where dining was recently expanded outdoors, among…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   EVEN under the extreme heat of the summer sun, the trees were smiling. It is a smile made brighter by the red flowers of the fire trees and the yellow flowers of the narra trees that overwhelmed the green leaves, firmly holding on, with the…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   IT was just another one of the regular visits. After six months, he was no longer crying like a lost child. He is becoming more and more, relaxed, forgiving of those who wronged him. After a while, he was used to the uncertainty of his…