Winter Sun

It is an uplifting experience when you see the fruit of your labor. As a mentor, witnessing your students grow is rewarding, and seeing them achieve their dreams is all the more uplifting.

When challenging, dark times come, their achievements uplift my spirit that in the end I have touched lives and in one way or another they looked to me for inspiration.

Last Sept. 27, 2013, I felt elated up until cloud nine when my former high school student, Marites Tinapay Neis, had her book launched at SM City Cebu. As among the people that she mentioned for being grateful to, I was the first one mentioned, acknowledging my efforts in molding her to become what she is now. I can recall in my first teaching years at Saint Joseph's Academy (ICM School), my alma mater, Tess has shown her interest in the performing arts particularly in theater and in writing as she was always my scriptwriter, actress and our perennial contestant in various speech contests.

After several years, we met in what I would describe as a harvest moment. Only then that I know that she has already a master's degree in English Literature and has also been a teacher for many years here in the Philippines, China and New Zealand. At present, she is now based in Australia with her family.

Born a Cebuana, Tess treasures the rich culture and heritage that Cebu is known for. She used to live in the province for decades that she even worked with SM Cebu in quite some time.

In her first written fiction "My Own Winter Sun," Tess described the setting on a winter season, uncovered the untold story of a couple Erik Robson, a quintessential English heartthrob and his love interest Tamiko who are challenged by the acid test of life and chronicled how the sun shed some light to their relationship.

Fame, fortune and success could be very tantalizing to many-but to some, behind the glamour, prosperity and prominence hides a distressing truth. Such luck comes with a price, and for Erik Robson, it was boredom. He is tired of the attention that is always attached to anything he says or does. All he wants is to restore some semblance of normality and order in his life. As fate will have it, he meets Tamiko who turns out to be just the breath of fresh air that Erik so needed in his convoluted world. To many people, Tamiko is either an unwelcomed distraction or a fierce competition; either way, she is not good for Erik's career.

Provocatively intriguing, romantically passionate and absolutely mesmerizing, My Own Winter Sun is a depiction of a story of life common to many-and lived by few. The story will introduce readers to a celebrated, rich and successful life, and at the same time allow them to learn relevant insights and life-changing lessons.

"EVERYONE deserves a bit of sunshine. Everyone deserves a good life."

Erik and Tamiko are from two different countries, but their cultural barriers didn't deter their deep affection for each other.

"Sunset and sunrise are apples and oranges. They are two different worlds that never collide to each other, never. I prefer sunrise because it dawns a brand new day, a new beginning and a new opportunity to start anew. And this is what my books tries to depict," adds Tess.

The book is "filled with stories about adventure, fantasy and love. It's fiction and romance combined, with verse style of writing. It is a depiction of a story of life common to many - and lived by few. The story will introduce readers to a celebrated, rich and successful life, and at the same time allow them to learn relevant insights and life-changing lessons"

For Tess, of all the four periods of the year - spring, summer, autumn and winter - winter is the coldest because of snow and freezing temperatures so it is often associated with depression and blues.

We can be the sun to someone else's winter. If we can find time to share our time to let others feel such importance in our lives then this world would be a better place to live in. When we fill in the missing piece of others, complementary is blissfully achieved.