It’s terribly late for a retrospective of the previous year. Usually these things are done at the start of the new year, as a reflection of what has passed, and perhaps a prayer for what may come.

But because I’ve been struggling, I find myself thinking, what have I been doing? Where was I at this time last year? It doesn’t hurt to look at what we’ve done, what we’d like to do better, what we’d like to never ever do again.

Okay, I’m a workaholic

Certainly 2022 had its firsts, especially at work. I went to the field for the first time, doing comms for our emergency response after Typhoon Rai (local name Odette). I visited Tondo for the first time, and got a glimpse into our tuberculosis project. In the same year I had a foreign journalist working on a story about our TB project, so it was the first time I got to handle a media visit.

One of the best things about 2022 was visiting Malaysia and finally meeting colleagues with whom I had been working on various campaigns–from the Rohingya to infectious diseases–for two years. It was lovely to hear their voices with my own ears, straight from their mouths instead of through my headphones. It was glorious to hug them, laugh with them, share food and drink. It was a joy to learn things I would not find in a Teams chat, or through our weekly meetings.

I was able to take active part in our recruitment activities when two field HR colleagues visited Manila from Hong Kong. Firsthand I got to see how difficult it is to apply for work with Doctors Without Borders. I saw that you need not just your professional knowledge–as a doctor or nurse, as a logistician or a water and sanitation specialist–but also a sense of working with different kinds of people and in very different environments.

It was a thrill to finally visit our project in Marawi, where Doctors Without Borders started a response soon after the siege began in 2017. It was also stressful, because as I was heading back to Manila, a big storm came in. The airport closed a few hours after I landed!

But there were non-work things too!

In 2022, it was like, are we still living in a pandemic? Is COVID-19 gone? Lucas and I got COVID for the first time (it was not fun); it was Oneal’s second time. For the first time since the pandemic started, we returned to Zambales for our family’s annual Holy Week pilgrimage.

For a while, it seemed like 2022 would be a year of hope. In the previous year, Leni Robredo announced that she would run for president. Joyfully we joined the rally in Pasig, and the miting de avance in Makati.

We really thought she was going to win.

We were heartbroken when she lost.

Despite our collective grief, there were many things to be grateful for. My brother got engaged, and went on his first solo international travel! We took steps to take care of our health.

Lucas started kindergarten in a homeschooling program. This was one of the things I really loved about 2022. After over a year of online school during the pandemic, he was finally going to school for face-to-face classes, with teachers and students we loved. I was so happy that we found this community for Lucas, because I felt that we were so aligned with his teachers on what we wanted in our children’s education and environment.

And on my birthday, we went to the beach!

There were plenty more things that went on in 2022, most of which I wrote about already. I think what I enjoy, really, is looking back at the photos, and remembering all the things the camera didn’t capture: my son’s glee at finally meeting a giraffe; our collective hope for the elections; the tedium and then relief of resolving home repair problems; the fact that I can keep most of my plants alive.

I mean, why else look back on what was?