Riding on the water, the wind whipping my face, the sun on my shoulders, and memories of an entire lifetime rushing through me in a split second- as my four-year old nephew would say, "This is the life."
It seems that everytime I go home to the province I pick up a new lesson or two that dig deep in my brain. These lessons I learn will probably stick with me until the day i die, or when I go senile. In so many words, they'll be with me for a long time.
The trip back home made me realize the first important thing. I was to fly home bringing my said nephew. I've done it before, so it was no big deal. I waited in the airport for my sister to drop him off. It was fifteen minutes to the departure time when my sister showed- with a lot of baggage. Let me draw the picture for you:
I was alone with a four-year old kid in an airport. I had to hold him at all times- an airport is an easy place to get lost. I only had one hand left to handle three pieces of large baggage plus two hand-carry ones.
Ten minutes until departure. All check-in counters for Cagayan de Oro were already closed. I started to panic.
A counter clerk took pity and checked us in. Though he said if the supervisor caught him he'd be in trouble. I thanked God for the first time in so many years.
The line for the boarding pass was a mile long, and I could have sworn that the last call for our flight had already been announced. I kept bugging the attendant that we had to zip through, but he kept insisting he didn't hear the call. My nephew innocently asked, with Teddy clutched in his hand, "Why are we running?" I almost cried.
"Ali, Tita is very scared."
It was during this moment that I realized how responsibility felt like. I wasn't scared for myself. I was scared for him. I don't know why, but I just felt that way. Realizing that the actual meaning of responsibility is worrying for somebody else important to you and doing everything to not screw it up.
When we finally got through the line we were the only passengers left and the doors almost closed. We ran, got on the plane, and buckled up. I let out a sigh of relief. I hadn't slept for three days and here I was entertaining a kid's 213 questions about everything.
Holy Week. Where in Jesus Christ's life, most things happened. His sacrifices, the betrayal, the epiphany. Somehow, I still think it's one of the very impressive stories in actual history. It's interesting to note though, that the gravity of the life Jesus lead created more impact and drama to me now than when I was still "really Catholic."
Anyway, a priest once said, "If you sin, sin boldly." And I think that was rather well said. I'll remember that for the rest of my life.
The entire family, including my sisters, spent the Holy week in Cebu. Nothing like being with the entire family again. It's just priceless. Figuratively and literally. For the whole time I walked without bringing my wallet. Like a return to when we were kids, asking mama and papa what to do, where to go, telling them what we wanted to eat, that kind of stuff. Except that my parents were getting old, we're traveling with my sister's kid, another sister is getting married, the other one could finally treat us to some massage, and our little brother is no longer little.
My parents had been very controlling when we were children, and seeing them exerting the same effort over our brother, we sisters knew what was going on. However, we all concluded that he'd grow over it someday. The university would do him good to get away in time.
The rest of the time in Cebu was spent in the mall. It was here I clearly saw how my father, despite his controlling nature, spoils us all. We had a three-day shopping spree. My dad didn't go out shopping, and my brother didn't enjoy it as well. It must be a guy thing. All three days his schedule depended on us and 'granted us the ability to shop'. He wanted to go to this really old and cheap barbecue chicken place, and we were never really hot about the idea. We kept pushing that trip for later until it was completely forgotten. When we finally remembered and had the time to go, something came up that we cancelled it again.
My dad never got to go where he really wanted. While we got to shop for almost anything we could think of.
My nephew got to climb on a tree for the first time in his life. He had no idea how to climb one. When I was a kid his age I reached branches two stories high, unaccompanied. He was holding on to my mother for balance but my mother said:
"If you want to climb, you climb on your own, use your head and think where the next step should be. If you fall, you fall on your own."
I also climbed the tree for the first time in eight years. My mother took my picture and said, "wait till your boyfriend sees this."
My mother can be so cool.
We went to Mactan Island for a day. My dad is really vain, and he sprayed tanning oil every fifteen minutes. He turned a nice gold. It was inevitable to get a little darker so I decided I might as well go gold too. My sister said, "If you can't become whiter, you can get tanner." A sexy tan would do nicely.
My dad ordered from some local fisherman a large clam. Not really giant, but way bigger than your palm. We weren't too keen on the idea. I particularly don't get excited over shells and stuff. Anyway, the thing's P100 each, and when you open it it's just like two tablespoons of meat. The way the fisherman prepared it was: when he opened it he took the meat out, chopped it, put it back in the shell, put some vinegar, onions, and tomatoes. Okay, I just ate for the sake of trying. You know, dying with at least having to taste an endangered species. Heh.
"Let's take the shell home."
"Do you realize how many decades it took for that clam to get to that size?"
"And consuming it in less than five minutes."
"Taking such shells home is illegal."
"We already killed it, and ate it. How much more illegal can you get?"
We got on a small boat to get to a small island and go snorkling. A one-way ride was about 20 minutes. On the ride back, I was sitting on the edge, with my feet over the water. The wind was so nice, the sun was just right. I was so thankful that I got to travel. So thankful to my parents, no matter what their imperfections, for always giving us opportunities to travel and experience adventure.
I always thought vacation was an escape, and spending more time with yourself. In a way, yes. You get to forget school or work or other worldly matters for a while. But when you're there, having a great time, the earth wrapping around you, you get to think about the important people in your life like "I bet she'd have liked this" or "They'd have enjoyed this" or "He should see what I'm seeing right now".
When I was there feeling the earth under my feet, brushing my skin, or filling my lungs, I didn't get to think about myself at all. I got to think of everyone in my life who made me who I am right now. That without them, I'd have experienced the earth a lot differently.
Baboysai reads Ranma 1/2
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