Les Misérables, The Stars Didn’t Align.

As Les Misérables: The World Tour Spectacular rises tonight at The Theatre at Solaire, I send the whole team a heartfelt break a leg, with a quiet ache in my heart.

Some people have a favorite show.

I have a lifetime with Les Misérables.

I was there at the beginning - 1996 to 1997 - kicking out Fantine as the Foreman, blending into the ensemble, eventually stepping into the Master of the House as Thénardier. I didn’t know then that the music, the story, and the weight of it all would quietly stitch itself into my life.

Years later, in 2011- 2012, I returned not just as a performer but as a director, carrying Jean Valjean on my shoulders - onstage and off. By then, *Les Mis* wasn’t just a show. It was a language I spoke fluently. It shaped how I told stories, how I understood mercy, justice, and grace.

In 2013, my theatre family and I watched the film together.

In 2016, we sat together again for the international tour, letting the music pass between generations, letting it mean something different this time.

By 2019, my place had shifted again. I stood beside young artists, mentoring, cheering, believing in them as they carried *Les Misérables* forward in their own voices. I wasn't in the spotlight anymore. I was blessedly content watching the next generation find their way through the same songs that once carried me.

And this year - thirty years after it all began - the circle breaks.

For the first time, I won’t be part of it. I won’t be watching from the dark, or listening from the wings, or holding space for others to shine. The stars didn’t align, and some stories don’t grant us the ending we imagine for ourselves.

It’s a quiet kind of grief - the kind that only comes when something has walked with you for decades. Still, I’m grateful. Not every artist gets to live inside a story for thirty years. Not everyone gets to meet it again and again in so many forms.

Les Misérables gave me roles, purpose, family moments, students, and lessons I still carry. Even if I’m absent this time, the music hasn’t left me.

The circle may break - but the story remains.

Quietly Continuing

 I used to think New Year reflections had to be loud - big wins, bold declarations, dramatic reinventions. This year, mine is quieter. And maybe truer.

I enter this new year softer, but stronger in ways that don’t always show.

2025 didn’t teach me how to conquer the world.

It taught me how to stay.

Healing, I learned, isn’t cinematic. It doesn’t arrive with background music or a standing ovation. Most days, it looked like breathing through the hard moments, choosing not to disappear, and showing up -especially on days when retreat felt easier.

There were seasons I survived on autopilot.

Moments when faith wasn’t a proclamation but a whisper: Just get through today.

And that had to be enough.

After more than three decades in theatre - where everything is amplified, projected, performed - I had to relearn how to be human offstage. No script. No applause cue. Just truth. Just breath. Just one more day.

I’m still a work in progress.

Some days, peace visits briefly. Other days, it feels like an ongoing rehearsal with missed cues and awkward pauses. But I’ve learned not to rush the process. Even rehearsals matter. Especially rehearsals.

What grounded me this year wasn’t ambition - it was purpose.

And at the center of that purpose is my daughter.

She remains my reason for choosing life, hope, and tomorrow - even when the days felt unbearably long.

So when I say I’m praying for the next 525,600 minutes, it’s not poetic math. It’s survival math. It’s hope measured in minutes instead of milestones. And if I’m blessed to live through them, I hope to use those minutes to make someone else’s life a little lighter, a little kinder, a little more bearable.

As 2026 begins, I don’t carry grand resolutions.

I carry acceptance.

I release myself from the illusion of control and resign to whatever unfolds next. I am done demanding answers from the dark. If this is the road laid out before me, then I will walk it - worn down, quieter, and stripped of certainty. Still, I pray. Not with confidence, not with expectations, but with a tired hope that the days ahead will hurt less than the ones I’ve already survived.

This is not a comeback story.

This is a staying story.

And for now, staying is the bravest thing I know how to do.

Some Things Are Worth the Wait (MacGyver Coffee)

This Christmas Eve morning began with a small first: using the coffeemaker we received as a gift back in 2005. It’s been sitting quietly all these years, patient and unused, until today.

Of course, the moment came with a lesson. I thought I bought ground coffee - turns out I bought actual coffee beans. No grinder in sight. So, improvisation happened. A blender, a little laughter, and a reminder that sometimes we make do with what we have.

The coffeemaker worked. The coffee was good. But more than that, the morning felt right.

Some gifts don’t expire. Some lessons take time. And some moments - simple, imperfect, and a little funny - are exactly how Christmas Eve should begin.

Simple Guide to Psychological First Aid (PFA)

When I prepared the Learning and Development proposal for our GAD seminar - one of those complicated processes I had to learn and master on my own - I was also set to be the second speaker for the event. It was a practical decision: it helped save funds, and I was qualified to speak on the planned topic.

Anticipating that time would be tight during the program, I recorded my talk in advance. I’m sharing it here now, through this blog entry, in case it may be helpful to you who are reading this - or to someone who might need it in the future.

A Constellation I Was Lucky to Find

Sometimes life gives you people unexpectedly - not grand, not loud, not even planned - just quietly placed in your path, and somehow, everything feels lighter. This family became that for me.

Beautiful, yes. But more than that - kind. Humble. Genuine. The kind of beautiful that isn’t just seen, but felt. Talent like water - natural, flowing, effortless - and hearts that shine just as brightly as their gifts. It’s rare to meet people like that, and even rarer to be welcomed by them.

I didn’t know that meeting them would soften something in me.

I didn’t know that friendship could heal without trying, just by existing.

But here I am - better than I was. Braver than I was. More alive than I was. And all because God allowed our stories to cross.

I’m grateful - deeply, quietly, honestly grateful. They may never know the full weight of their impact, but I hope someday they do. I hope they realize that their kindness didn’t just pass through me - it stayed, it shaped, it changed me. And I will carry them with me, in memory, in gratitude, in the curve of every growth from here on.

I don’t know how long our seasons together will last. Maybe a lifetime, maybe a chapter, or maybe just a handful of pages that mattered more than long chapters ever could. But this I know:

They made me better, simply by being my friends.

And that’s a blessing I will never take lightly.

If they ever read this, I hope they feel my heart in every word. I hope they know that they are seen, valued, loved - not because of what they do, but because of who they are. I hope they know they left light in places I didn’t know still needed it.

Some friendships don’t fade - they stay, they settle, they become part of you.

If ours is one of those, I’d be grateful beyond words.

And if it isn’t, I’ll still thank God forever that it existed at all.

Like light they entered - softly, without demand, yet changing everything.

On ordinary days, they became the warmth I didn’t know I was missing.

Quiet kindness, loud talent - beauty felt more than seen.

Under their friendship, something in me healed, slowly and gently.

Every laugh, every moment - a blessing I will carry always.

Zeal in their hearts, grace in their souls - proof that goodness can look like people.

Comfort in the Uncomfortable

 I thought I knew what growth looked like.

When I made the decision to leave SciHi, I honestly believed I was stepping into discomfort - the kind that stretches, challenges, and perhaps heals. I thought that leaving would refresh my mind and spirit, that maybe a new environment could breathe life into the parts of me that were growing tired and heavy. I imagined that taking the risk would pull me forward, out of survival and into renewal.

But life has a way of offering clarity only in hindsight.

Had I gone to the state university, I would have found myself back in HR again - familiar work, familiar structure, familiar comfort. A different building, a new set of faces, better compensation, yes - but still a space I already understood and could navigate with ease. I realized later that what I thought was the braver path might have been the easier one.

SciHi, for all its chaos, pressure, and unpredictability, is where I am tested. It is where I am stretched beyond what I thought possible. It is where I grow, not because things are easy, but because every day asks more of me - not just as an educator or part of administration, but as a human being. I find comfort there sometimes, not because it is comfortable, but because it forces me to evolve.

It is strange - how the place that exhausts you is the same place that shapes you.

How the struggle you want to escape is the very furnace that forges you.

And so I stay, not because I have found peace, but because I am still becoming.

In a world that tells us comfort is the goal, I am learning this:

Growth rarely lives where everything is soft.

Sometimes, the truest comfort comes from the place that keeps us awake, alive, and unfinished.

Yes, I stay. For now.

The Invitation to Leave That Led Me Back to Myself

There was a time when I was running on fumes - high-functioning depression hidden behind a smile and a pile of responsibilities. I was frustrated because no matter how hard I tried, I felt I wasn’t really helping my students or colleagues the way they needed. And in the moments I needed help myself, the people I thought were friends suddenly weren’t there. They disappeared - ghosted me - when all I wanted was someone to talk to.

On top of that, I had to take on tasks and responsibilities no one taught me to handle. Add personal battles and health concerns, and everything felt too heavy, too loud, too overwhelming.

Then out of nowhere, a job posting from a state university appeared. They were hiring an AO IV. Something in me whispered, maybe this is the change I need. Maybe this was the universe giving me a way out - or a way forward.

I applied last September. Got the acknowledgment email… then silence.

Every year, for my birthday, I take a leave on the day itself, plus the day before and after. It’s my little ritual: church, coffee, walking around the mall alone. A quiet reset from the noise of everything.

And last November - just before my birthday - I received two emails. Out of the blue. Scheduling me for exams and an interview. And guess what? Both landed exactly on the days I was on leave. Was it a sign? A cosmic wink? Or just a very welcome coincidence?

I took the three standardized tests. I went to the panel interview and honestly had a blast - even though they started so late I thought the universe was trolling me. I felt confident. Hopeful. Excited.

Then they asked for additional documents. And that excitement grew even more because it finally felt real: the possibility of a new environment where I could be me again - fully, unapologetically. A place where I could start fresh. And yes, a higher salary that would mean so much for my family.

But then something unexpected happened. Despite the momentum, despite the anticipation, despite how much I wanted this… the feeling shifted. The urge - the pull toward this new path - quieted down. I don’t even know how to explain it, except that it just didn’t feel right anymore.

And so, long story already long, here’s the short of it:

For now, I’m staying with DepEd. With Science High. With the students and the work that still somehow tug at my heart even on the hardest days.

And today - of all days - happens to be my 9th year in DepEd. Coincidence?

Do you believe in destiny?

Do you believe in signs?

In serendipity?

Because sometimes, the universe doesn’t always open the door you’re meant to walk through…

but it gives you just enough light to remind you where you still belong.

If This Was My Last Birthday

 

What Life Has Taught Me So Far (44 Lessons)

Sharing the most important things I've learned the past 44 years.

These lessons didn’t come from winning. They came from struggle, from quiet breakdowns, from days I wasn’t sure I’d recover.🤟🏽

If these 44 lessons bring comfort to someone walking through their own shadows, then every difficult moment had meaning.🙏🏼

To The Boy I Once Was