The mandatory retirement for government employees is 60 years old.
I am not a government employee, but I am past that. I should prepare for retirement, but the word retirement is nonexistent in my world.
I am busy as a bee, and I am not complaining. Instead, I see it as a good physical and mental exercise.
I am forced to wake up each morning and move my world.
My husband’s physiological being was automatically adjusted when he turned 60. His body refused to take on a day-to-day job. Me naman, I have always kept an unconventional work schedule. Meaning, wala akong schedule. Thanks to my daughter for taking on the big responsibilities.
I have projects here and there. Small ones. I call them fun projects. My husband tells me ang dami ko daw ginagawa. Mag-wind down na daw ako. Ano bang wind down, ang haba pa ng list of things to do ko.
When I am out of the country, ayan ang wala akong ginagawa except to think, where shall we eat today, sa’n tayo papasyal. But when I am here in Metro Manila, hayan ang marami akong dapat gawin.
What makes me sad is because of our busy schedule, I am not able to spend more time in our small farm. Theo goes to school every day, he also has no more time to hie off to Tagaytay to reboot. And because of the increasing number of hours traveling to and from, we could no longer do a quick trip.
On top of my own micro projects, a month ago, a massive amount of responsibility suddenly fell on my shoulders.
Someone is on a medical leave and the weight of his roles as CEO of 4 big operations fell on me by default. I am swarmed with spread sheets, financial reports, analytical data, and other important and urgent matters. Naku eh I find it hard to read kasi my eyes are malabo na and I still refused to wear eye glasses.
What I found funny (I will use this word to lighten the burden), is that the two of us have different management styles. He is extremely aggressive. I am conservative. He is extremely generous to a fault. I am objective and fair. He is very kind and compassionate even to people he knew are taking money from him. I am kind to every one. I am compassionate to the less fortunate. I cannot be nice to people who are stealing from me. Even if he is convinced that someone in his organization cannot be trusted, he would still give this person a second, third, fourth, fifth, chance, and even promote him/her, or increase his/her salary. Para daw hindi na magnakaw!
If I am convinced that a person or any one in the organization cannot be trusted, I will let him/her go. Mahirap may kasamang magnanakaw sa loob ng bahay.
Now, while awaiting for his full recovery, I am warming his seat, conducting 3, 4, 5 hours meeting. To think that even in our own companies, I have never sat down attending a 3, 4, 5 hour meeting. Antok na ako, ngawit na ang pwet. And thanks to my daughter, she’s the one who conducts and attends meetings for several hours.
Before, I kept my Fridays open to avoid getting stuck in a horrendous traffic. But now, things have changed. I see my Fridays as another full day. Either do ocular project inspections or meetings.
Tomorrow is Friday, and I have meetings from 9:30 am which I hope to end by noon because I have another meeting from 12:30 onward.
I will be away for two weeks to visit my siblings, etc. Eto ang baon kong documents to review. Tomorrow, more documents are coming. I’ve requested for updated organizational charts for all the companies, etc. Baka pabalik na ako sa Pilipinas eh hindi ko pa tapos himayin ito.
Next month, I shall be traveling to other parts of the Philippines as part of my journey as the Hobson’s choice CEO. I don’t know until when I have to do this, but I see this to be an extended role. I was thinking, did God prepare me for this unexpected role? Did he pick me? Well, for now, there’s no one else out there but me.
My goal is to give honor to the founder by securing and preserving what he has worked so hard for.
When it became clear to me that I have a giant role to fill in, my prayers were for the Almighty to guide me to say the right words and do the right things. Para hindi naman masayang ang lahat ng pinaghirapan na nya.
Wish me good luck.
