TOPAZ HORIZON

Before you get worried about these reasons, take a deep breath. Maybe he’s just busy at work, tired from a trip, or spending time with family and friends. After all, he has a life, too. Remind yourself from this day and forever that people - family, friends, significant others - are allowed to have a life separate from your relationship. This is a good time for you to focus on your friends and interests. If it’s only been a few days of him acting distracted, then it’s probably nothing to worry about.

However, if he’s acting withdrawn for a week or so and he’s not telling you why or reassuring you, then you may be onto something. Here are 7 possible reasons why he’s pulling away:

The good news is he’s realized he’s falling in love and he’s reeling from the intensity of his emotions for you. It’s all new and scary for him and he needs to slow down and take it all in. Be patient.

Maybe he’s putting the brakes on because his heart’s been broken before. Be gentle and show him he can trust you.

You’re everything he’s ever dreamed of… and he thinks someone as amazing as you might be better off with someone better than him. Okay, insecurity is a possible red flag, so reassure him of your admiration but watch out for constant low self-esteem. Believe me, you don't want to be with someone with low self-esteem.

He could be wondering if he’s still the same person if he’s only doing things you like, wearing outfits you picked out, eating your favorite food, watching your favorite Koreanovela when he hates those shows, and so on. If you’re controlling everything you do together, give him space to be himself.

5. He needs a break.

 
You’re simply spending too much time together. His friends want to hang out with him, his family misses him, or he wants to play the videogame he bought months ago. Let him have fun without you!

Your relationship started as just fun for him but now he’s thinking if this is serious enough to lead to marriage and kids. Maybe he’s not ready for that yet. If you’re willing to wait, assure him you’d like to take your time, too.

Ouch! Don't waste your time. Just move on.

Everyone reaches a point where they take stock of their relationship. If he seems distant, don’t worry about it too much since all he needs is time to process how he feels for you. He needs to do this on his own so give him space.

Let him work through the reasons why he’s pulling away. If he breaks up with you, then it’s not meant to be. But if he comes back, then you know he’s serious about you. Now it's up to you to decide if he was worth the wait. 

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P.S. I wrote this as a test article for a job I applied for last year (it didn't work out because stuff were piling up in my life). It's such a waste to not use it so I published it here but edited it so it sounds more like me and not like the website I wrote it for (they didn't publish it and I retain all rights to this article). Gosh. All the test articles I've written over the years! All the job search stories! Maybe I'll do a story on my job search. Let me know if you'd like that!

Of course, homeschooling is much more affordable than school-school. That's why I went back to the corporate world so we can pay the tuition and save money for college.

I've been doing a ton of calculations recently because a good education in the Philippines is so expensive. 

Well, it doesn't have to be. I'm proud to say that half of my education was spent in public schools (thank you, Filipino taxpayer!). And I just want to put this out there: many people I know who studied in exclusive private schools have atrocious grammar. My fellow public school classmates? Never made a grammar mistake. It's not the school. It's the student. I'll leave it at that.

So why am I intent on giving my kids a private school education? For the connections? The prestige? The hope that going to an international school will give them a foot in the door to a life out of here? Sigh. I'm still figuring it out. 

Anyway, I've been playing around with these tools on SavingsCalculator.org. They have a calculator for savings goals, college savings, and retirement planning. You can change the currency. The site says that the calculation for figuring compound savings is the same almost everywhere, especially as their calculators allow different compounding frequencies. 

So I tried them out. They look like this:

Hehe sorry, this college calculator is empty. I can't show you my figures! But I also realized I didn't have enough information like the annual school costs inflation rate and the tuition fees of the colleges I hope my kids will go to. Well, I want my kids to go to just my alma mater, UP Diliman. And since it's a state university, it's very cheap! 

We actually have insurance policies for their education. So college is pretty much in the bag! 

I've been using our grocery trips as part of our homeschool lesson. It's math, home economics, social studies, and health! Plus, I think they're old enough to learn how to feed themselves. And they should know about the prices of the food they eat and so they'll not waste food. So to make it more fun, we've made grocery shopping a game! Like I'd tell them "Here's your budget. You have 30 minutes. Go!" They love it!

With all the skyrocketing prices on just about everything, however, let me tell ya that it's not been fun to go grocery shopping lately. Having to see my kids' faces when they go, "These cookies are more expensive than those cookies if you compare them by weight!" is just sad. But it's also gratifying when they go, "Let's buy this brand of fresh milk, Mama. They all taste the same anyway!"

Teaching kids about life. What an experience!

So when my boys saw me playing a game called Tap Supermarket, they were intrigued. "Are you doing the groceries, Mama?"

"Nope. I'm managing the supermarket!"

And that's how my boys took over my game and learned about supply and demand, customer service, replenishing stocks, making money, and figuring out what to do with that money! 

Check it out:

It's super simple. You need to make sure the shelves are stocked well and the lines at the cashier moving. But it may be simple but it gets really complicated!

You have lots of customers coming in, they're emptying your shelves, demand for new products is going up, and you're understaffed --- ahhhhh!!!

Here are a couple more games we like to play:

LEGO City Adventures Build & Protect teaches the kids about running a city by collecting taxes! They don't understand why we need to pay taxes and I always say, "Well, the streetlights need electricity, the roads need to be maintained, the garbage needs to be collected. We pay for those with our taxes." This game illustrates that practicality well.

Mahjong Solitaire is a great memory and matching game. Plus, the mahjong tiles show famous landmarks all over the world, like the Eiffel Tower, the Hollywood sign, Mt Fuji, Merlion, Stonehenge... and I'm ashamed to admit I don't recognize the others!!! 

Anyway, if you aren't doing anything this weekend or you'd like your kids to play online games that will teach them about math and money, check out https://www.mortgagecalculator.org/money-games! Happy weekend of fun and learning, mamas!