Goodbye, Friends and Colleagues

It is now 21 calendar days or 14 working days before my exit from Manila Water Company. I am having mixed emotions. I feel a bit depressed because I know I will miss what I have been doing for more than 37 years - going to the office and working on my job. I will miss the people that I usually see every weekday. Although people would say that I am the kind of person whom they see but do not hear, still I am a person who likes to see people around me, although I very seldom talk to them.

On the other hand, I feel that I am a little bit excited - sort of looking forward to this new phase of my life. I will be having a relaxed life. I don’t have to wake up early, no more pressure of having to finish the tasks that I need to finish. I will have time to enjoy my life in my house. I will have more time to fix my house, to have more time for my family, especially, my brand new grandson. Yes, for the first time, I am a Lola!

Friends tell me that I will be bored if I don’t get into some kind of business, or if I don’t keep myself busy doing something. Maybe that will be so, if I were 10 or 20 years younger. Maybe they don’t realize that I am 60, and being 60 is different. Venturing into something new would not be advisable for someone my age. What I could do 10 or 20 years ago, I could no longer do at 60.

Another thing that makes me sorry for having to retire is the financial reason. I will no longer have the income that will support me and my family. Because of this, kailangan talagang magtipid – maghigpit ng sinturon (all of us are doing that already), but more so, in my case, kailangan dagdagan ko pa ang pagtitipid.

On second thought, if it is God’s will for me to continue being productive in the corporate world, and He will open another door for me, so be it. God knows what is best for me.

God has been good to me. He has been faithful in His promises. I have gone through many difficulties before - financial, mental, emotional – difficulties that would have made me bitter at life – but I thank God because these trials taught me how to reach out to Him. And because God has been always there, He sustained me and made me get up and made me realize that although life is not easy, but because He is there, I would be able to carry on.

There are many people that I thank God for - people in MWSS and Manila Water who gave me the opportunity to have the job that I have now, and people that made my years in Manila Water worthwhile. To these people, I say, thank you very much. But I would also like to ask for an apology to those who I had unintentionally offended one time or the other. Please forgive me.

I would also like to thank MWSS and Manila Water Company for having me. I really enjoyed working in these two offices, not to mention the fact that these two offices have been my reliable sources of income that supported me and my family for many, many years.

I will leave with fond memories. Although I am not the kind of person who socializes well - as a matter of fact, I am not a sociable person since I am a loner – I will surely miss my job because I really like what I have been doing.

But most of all, I thank our Almighty God because it is He that worked in my life. ”All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). From the bottom of my heart, I thank Him for everything.

For the first time, after 27 years (having entered MWSS in 1978), I will say “Goodbye, I love you all and I will miss you!”