Life is not a bed of succulents

It is always a thrill when friends send me photos of their travels around the world and remember this little column of ours. Our close friends Weng and Greg Domingo were recently in Europe to watch their son Bobby’s international go-kart races in Lonato, Italy. Lonato is a city in the Lombardy region in Northwestern Italy near Milan. One of our country’s top go-kart racers, Bobby was there to compete in the 2008 World ROK Cup last October. There were over 100 racers from all over the world in Bobby’s age group, and he was one of the top placers in the competition. I am sure Weng and Greg were very proud of their son’s performance. Greg, by the way, is one of the top executives in the SM Group and a former head of our Board of Investments.

After that event, Weng proceeded to France to join her siblings on a trip around France. Her trip there brought back fond memories of one of my best trips ever with my family. This was back in 1982 when my dad and mom took us on a wonderful three-week tour of Western Europe. My dad, siblings and I still have very vivid recollections of that great trip, and I felt I became closer to my family after that. That trip was so good that in 2005, we decided to do it all over again, and this time with our individual families. It was again a wonderful bonding experience for us all and especially with our wives and kids along on the trip. My mom (who passed in 1994) wasn’t with us on this second trip, but I thought about her as we revisited many of the places we had seen back in the 1982 edition. I sure miss her.

Weng’s trip to France with her siblings was also a very special one for all of them. While at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, she saw this beautiful succulent arrangement inside: dramatic Cereus peruvianus specimens towering over large-growing Echeveria rosettes from Mexico. It was while Weng was looking at the photo of this special rose-tipped Echeveria species that she thought of the cliché “Life is not a bed of roses.” But upon seeing and admiring this beautiful Echeveria, she thought, “Why not say ‘Life is not a bed of succulents?’” After all, this particular succulent is just as attractive and it has no thorns (like roses do).” 

Weng goes on to share her story. The year 2003 made the Antonio family realize that, indeed, life is not a bed of roses. Everything started in July of that year when Weng’s sister Tang Singson was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then Weng’s daughter had a freak accident that resulted in an operation requiring one hundred stitches on her daughter’s lips (I’ve had all of three stitches on my forehead as a child and, I can tell you, it is not a pleasant experience at all). Then in October of that year, Weng’s other sister Le Lagdameo lost her only son in a car accident along Mckinley Road in Forbes Park.

And so this was how the Antonio siblings’ trip to France came about. Weng relates that it was really for her sister Tang who had been in remission for five years. Tang’s wish was to immerse in the waters of Lourdes to add life to her years. The Antonios believe strongly in savoring time and memories because they feel it could all slip away so quickly without any of them noticing it. Besides, they say that shared memories evoke much laughter, hence, a family bonding vacation! Kid brother Ram also joined his sisters. Now I’ve known Ram, the ex–politician, tourism executive and entrepreneur, since we were in high school, though he went to La Salle and I went to Xavier. Ram’s best friend Manny Maceda was also quite a good friend of mine, and so that’s how we met. I met Weng a few years ago, but it was only very recently that I realized that she was Ram’s sister! I was most pleasantly surprised.

Weng says that as she and her siblings traveled around France, they were quite fascinated to see how the French are able to create such attractive surroundings using cacti and succulents. What also caught their eye was the widespread use of cacti and succulents in various interior and decorative landscaping schemes in the various French towns and cities they visited. In a convention center in Cannes, they saw large Agaves spread around an upper-floor veranda. In Saint Paul de Vence, wonderfully arranged terra-cotta mini-gardens were created using Echeverias, Aloes, and Crassulas. These mini-gardens were arranged along the sidewalk fronting a store. And in Paris, they saw a beautiful Crassula argentea, the famous “Jade Cactus,” warming up the wall of a shop. 

In my Christmas party address to the members of the Cactus and Succulent Society of the Philippines last Dec. 14 (which I blatantly plagiarized for my Christmas address to our staff at People Asia magazine a day later), I told our members and guests that despite the global economic troubles we are now facing, our attitude makes all the difference. If we look at the positives in our lives (and even some of the negatives), we will all come to realize that we are all richly blessed by God. But these rich blessings are sometimes clouded by our dwelling on the not-so-savory side of things. It is so easy to forget the goodness of life when we overwhelm ourselves with the bad stuff, with what we don’t have, with our failures, and with life’s unfairness (in our minds). If you succumb to this, then life will surely be that much tougher for you.

But as Weng puts it, “How wonderful it is to rediscover the beauty of God’s creations because it brings us back to Him. Our trials brought us back to the basics and seeing life and love even in the simplest of things such as a cactus plant.” 

It’s all about having the right attitude and the right spirit. 

All the experts and non-experts keep telling us that 2009 is going to be a most difficult and dreadful year. And yes, the coming year does seem to present significant challenges, but if we have the right attitude and reliance on our Lord — who knows, 2009 may present us with really wonderful blessings and opportunities. Who knows — 2009 may just be your best year of them all!

I want to thank Weng for sharing her family stories and her trip with us. And I’d like to selfishly believe that she thought about me on that trip while she was taking all those great photos of cacti and succulents in France and Italy. Weng is truly a wonderful person, and my wife Rose Anne and I are really blessed to count her and her family among our friends.

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E-mail the author at succulentophile@yahoo.com.