We are born as adventurers

by Jojie Gabot


Many read my column about my travel adventures. You have to know me and the places I’ve been to or of some activities I have been involved in to better appreciate my writings. There's no doubt one enthralled with my travel accounts would notice my love for travel and to discover new extraordinary things, foods, places, animals, culture, history, places and people.
We might have been gone to the same places but we may end up with different opinion. Traveling around is not just about seeing the beautiful world God provided us but to enjoy it, to explore it and continually expand our experiences and how we touch other people's lives, especially our loved ones, when see places. Writing my accounts is not just about crowing about the unique and beautiful places I’ve been to but also to make my readers know that there is more than the beauty of these things, people and places. Earth is our planet and our big playground!
My adventuress eyes give me never-ending reasons to explore the delightful world. Each experience gives me an amazing encounter with the nature that each awe-inspiring place I’ve been to leaves me in venture to seek another spot like it and discover its own uniqueness to behold, promising different joy to indulge in.
The steep and risky way paths up the mountains during my teenage life didn’t prevent me from climbing and reaching the peak. I spent numerous mountainside travels during my school vacations. I love jazzing around, from place to place. Grabbing every opportunity when low-budget expedition comes my way, I was able to reach different places and discover their simple or complex beauty which sometimes even appear to be dangerous to people. And each escapade has been and is truly a meaningful one, always different from the other.
All of us are born adventurers. For our life itself is a never ending lesson and experience and adventure. Each one of us faces day-to-day obstacles in life. Confronting new challenges, searching for new opportunity, testing and processing our ability or knowledge to discover our own unique potential is exercising our adventurism or being adventurous.
Do you remember the first time you recited the whole alphabet? Do you recall the feelings of having done a remarkable thing to yourself? For three or four years old kids, it takes time and it's hard to memorize them all. A lot of memory exercising and reciting were spent but giving up wasn’t our option that time. We already know we have done something remarkable when we first recited the whole alphabet seeing our parents loudly clapping at us and saying worthy praises at us. With the astounding discovery of new joy that made us overwhelmed and proud at the very young age, we euphorically began reciting the whole alphabet more than ten times a day!
Making each gallivanting significant depends on the heart of an adventurer. Some enjoy the risky venture or in search for one, others relinquish a position of watching delightfully or sightseeing, many enjoy curiously study of many things and places, and many activities entail a full life of traveling. Others possess all the characteristics of every adventurer but the solidarity of all is their quest for more in life…
Like for instance, Ferdinand Magellan is famous for his great exploration, Casanova is noted for his amorous adventures and for being a philanderer and Neil Armstrong was a naval aviator who became the first man to touch the moon’s surface. They have different kinds of adventure but in commonality were their pursuit to quench their thirst for knowledge in their curiosity about life, hence, every find calls for a search for more, and more. They put their lives at risk in pursuit of a remarkable life and to satisfy their cleverness.
The lust of learning, the thirst of knowledge, playful mind of imagination, and the worth of every dream will take you to a great adventure - the adventure of life in the beautiful planet we live in and the great universe around us.
So, go for broke!
For comments, gagabytes@gmail.com .

My Ever Beautiful Story

My Ever Beautiful Story
Jojie Gabot
Hi! I have a beautiful story to tell -- as beautiful as my name suggests. I am Jo Erlinda Maufit Gabot, born in Makati City on September 15, 1975. I am 33 years old now and the second child of Maria Josefina Saballa Maufit Gabot of Malalam, Ilagan, Isabela, Philippines and Alfredo G. Gabot of Binalonan, Pangasinan both scholars of the city government of Manila at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM).
I have a unique and beautiful name. My father who is a writer and journalist says he gave me my name Jo for sweetheart and Erlinda which is Spanish for ever beautiful. My name, therefore, means "Ever Beautiful Sweetheart."
I studied at the Colegio de San Agustin, Saint Scholastica's College and later at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in the historic Spanish walled city of Intramuros.
I am married to Brian Ramos Nebres of Cavite City and we have two handsome boys and two beautiful girls now – Ian-jo Nicholas who was born at the UCLA Harbor Medical Center at Torrance City in Los Angeles, California on November 5, 1995; Jiean Carlo (March 16, 1997), Ysabelle Denise, (November 10, 1999) and Amelia Zoe (July 8,2004).
For several years, I worked at the office of my Godfather, Mayor Lito Atienza Jr. of Manila who is making great as Mayor of Manila. Now, I am following the steps of my father as a writer and your blogger. I have not completed my college studies and have no high-paying-job or career, but by bringing my happy, healthy children into the world, has been the most rewarding job of all -- being a caring and loving mother...
Being a mother or parent is a big responsibility but its one you would not trade for anything else. In fact, it's the best thing that ever happened to me. God has given me the most awesome, wonderful, and special chance to care for other souls -- to fully nurture and love without question. As a mother, you witness in your midst a miracle -- how your beautiful babies grow into handsome and gorgeous kids and grow into adorable little person with unique personality and charm. That, I think, is the greatest gift of motherhood!
When that little baby gives you a toothless grin in a dimly lit room in the middle of the night, while changing his diaper -- everything melts away. You forget your headaches, all the aches and pains vanish and without noticing it, you suddenly feel good and strong. Seeing your baby grow, you will discover the world around you all over again through your child's eyes. Seeing butterflies, hearing the sound of an airplane, helicopter, even the sound of a leaf falling to the ground, etc. The simplest things make children happy, and those are the things that I have often taken for granted or forget about.