The slippers that started this blog
My family loves road trips. I cannot remember a time growing up when we did not travel during summers and long breaks.
There is one particular trip to the beach when I was about four or five that I will never forget. We’ve been to this beach a few times. It was about a two-hour drive into the southern coast.
Small barangays (villages) dotted the coastline that was mainly black and gray sand. The color of the sea seemed to change from azure to sapphire as one came closer to the waters. We would roll the car windows down as soon as we could get a glimpse of the sea and breathe in the clean salty air.
Once the car stopped, my sister and I would run to the beach and try to get our feet wet beach slippers and all. The day would then be filled with building sand castles, wading in the shore, venturing in deeper waters with our mom or dad towing us in our inflatable rubber floaters, and having hearty meals of rice, barbecued meat and fish, and lots of watermelon or mangoes.
As the day ended, my mom would usher us into the shower and changing room while my dad would pack everything up into the car.
The Blue Spider Beach Slippers
On this particular trip, my sister and I wore brand new spider beach slippers. I loved this pair so much because the entire body of the spider was printed right where I stepped into the slipper and its legs would come out on the sides as if coming from my feet. Besides, where can one find a blue spider as awesome as the one on my beach slippers!
We were hurrying to leave the beach as the sun was already coming down and we still had a long drive home. My dad was loading the last of our stuff while my sister and I were in the back seat waiting for my mom who was doing a last minute check to see if we had left anything behind.
Suddenly my mom got all frantic as she realized we had gotten into the car with wet sandy beach slippers. My sister and I were bringing in sand to our new car! She scolded us for not waiting for her so that she could shake the sand off our slippers before entering the car.
She ordered us to remove our slippers and put them outside the car. We immediately obeyed her and put our slippers outside the car. She continued to fuss about how hard it will be to clean the interior of the car as she removed the floor mats and shook the sand off. She was still talking about how we should be more careful with sand, etc. when she closed the car doors.
They sure didn't walk home by themselves
The drive home was pretty uneventful and my sister and I dozed off almost the entire time. By the time we reached our apartment, I was ready to run out and go to the bathroom. As we opened the car door, I realized I didn’t have any slippers on.
My sister and I asked our mom for our slippers. She gave us a quizzical look and asked why we didn’t have any slippers and where did we put them. We told her that we put our slippers outside the car as instructed since they were sandy. She then realized that she had forgotten to bring our slippers into the car!
It must have been strange to see a car drive away leaving two pairs of slippers. As for us, we got out of the car barefooted and later forlornly wore our old house slippers. Well, at least we know that there were two children sporting the coolest spider beach slippers that side of the coast.
A new thing
When I first wrote the story above, I didn’t really know that it would be the first installment of a collection of stories that would turn out to be my first inspirational book.
I’m getting ahead of myself though. Before I even wrote the blue spider slippers story, I was really struggling. Friends through the years have told me that I should write my story but I tucked that idea far into the back of my head. Don’t get me wrong. I love writing and have written stories as a child and have never been without a journal, but writing is hard work.
It was something that would require concentration and time, both of which I couldn’t give at that period of my life. Things took a different turn when the thought of writing a book came during times of prayer. The Lord got into the picture and told me to write. Even then, I was still resistant to the idea of writing until I became involved in a coffee table book project two years ago.
A step worth taking
I was originally tasked to manage it but through a divine twist of events, I ended up writing part of that book. I struggled, argued, and reasoned in tears with God as I realized that I was ill-equipped for the task. The last time I wrote something publication worthy was during my internship in college decades ago.
As I cried and trembled in fear in front of my laptop, a still small voice suddenly said, “I will give you the anointing to write.” That immediately quieted my spirit and I stopped crying. Unexplainable peace flooded my whole being and confidence surged within me. I knew that I was going to be alright, and just like that, I began to write and produced several articles for that book.
This year, we found out that the book won an international award beating more than 3,000 entries in its category. It was surreal as I realized the Lord allowed me to be a part of an award-winning coffee table book on my first official venture as a writer. Incredible!
So, the blue-spider-beach-slippers story is not coincidental after all. It found its way into the first of many stories I wrote for another book – this time my own, and it has also found its way here. My only hope is that the stories in this blog encourage, inspire, and make you smile as you read through them. Cheers!