Previously, I outlined how Kubo Queen and I handle our money. We mentioned that we put majority of our money to work. Some of you may have wondered if we feel deprived by doing this instead of spending them on things. Well today I will tell you about this nice song I used to sing from my childhood, what the song means to me now as an adult, and, finally, conclude why I (and Kubo Queen, of course) am not deprived.
A song from childhood
I still remember the popular folk song all the little kids, including me, sang while I was a child living in a third-world country. The famous words were:
Bahay kubo, kahit munti,
ang halaman doon ay sari-sari:
singkamas at talong, sigarilyas at mani,
sitaw, bataw, patani,
Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa,
At saka mayroon pang labanos, mustasa,
sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya.
Sa paligid-ligid ay puno ng linga.
Basically, the song is about a small house shaped like a cube — bahay kubo literally means “cube house.” The bahay kubo is the traditional house of the people of the Philippines, and, to my knowledge, it is still a common type of dwelling among Filipinos living in small villages in the provinces (lands outside of Metro Manila). The song says that even though the bahay kubo is tiny the land around it is abundant with various vegetables, which implies that the land has what it needs for a Filipino family to live. There are eggplants (talong), green beans (sitaw), winter melon (kundol), onions (sibuyas), and tomatoes (kamatis) just to name a few. It is a nice simple song with a nice simple melody (and I’m sure you can find the audio online), and I have fond memories of singing it as a child. However, I didn’t understand the message of it until later; until now, actually.
You don’t need extravagant things to be happy!
I had a lot of growing up to do before I realized what the message was. You do not need fancy or extravagant things to live a happy and fulfilled life. You can find happiness, contentment, and fulfillment in the good humble things you already have; or things that are within your reach. Kubo Queen and I enjoy the little things in life.
During the work week, we realize that we are the happiest when we are productive with our work; when we produce value to the world. For Kubo Queen, this could mean ironing out the research paper she’s about to submit for publication, setting up some complicated experiment in a supercomputer, or reviewing the literature in her field. For me, this could mean investigating why a portion of a source code is not working correctly (i.e., debugging), writing a new functionality for a simulation model, or creating a document explaining the capabilities of some piece of source code.
During the weekend, we do essential chores on Saturdays; we clean and tidy our kubo, do laundry, meal prep for the coming week, and take care of other important things that might have came up during the week. On Sundays, we enjoy the luxury of cooking a modest feast, baking bread or other baked goods from scratch, making pour-over coffee, reading a book, writing articles, improving our minds, and, the greatest luxury, spending quality time together. Just the two of us — Kubo Queen and I.
Yes, of course, our life isn’t perfect. Sometimes, no matter how much value we produce, work just sucks and we would rather be in Paris eating baguettes and croissants (the Boulangerie on 34 Rue Yves Toudic is phenomenal). Sometimes the amount of chores we have to do can be overwhelming, and sometimes we wish everyday was Sunday. Generally, though, whenever we reflect on life we always arrive at the same conclusion: we’re happiest and proudest when we spend our time on meaningful things.
The things that truly matter
To us, in our kubo, the things that truly matter are producing value to the world, saving our limited quality time so that Kubo Queen and I can spend it on each other, and having the ability to help the people we love and value, like our families and mentors. Just as the land around the original tiny kubo is already abundant with the essentials a family need to survive, we realized that our kubo, too, is already blessed with what we need to survive. Our ingenuity, hard work, and values are what will propel our kubo to have more opportunity for happiness, fulfillment, and contentment.
This is why I don’t, at all, feel deprived by putting majority of my money to work instead of spending them on material things. I focus my energy in performing well at work, spending time with Kubo Queen, and being here for friends and family. In fact, I actually feel very wealthy. So wealthy! I have my queen, my family, my mentors, and my work — I have kubo riches! My life is kubo rich!
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