Does it ever occur to you that you get to think of the things that you do when you're still a child? Because I do, I've been thinking of it these past few days.
Growing up is a continuous transition to a new life but it also leaves the things that we do as we grow older. As bittersweet as it can be, we just have to accept that we are going to leave the things behind as we get older.
I am writing this article as a time to reminisce and share with you the beautiful parts of my childhood. I didn't get to use gadgets while growing up so the things that you are about to read are mostly activities from outside the house and very provincial life.
Taking a dip at the river
This has a big part of my childhood. This is where I almost drowned, learned how to swim, and the place where I lost my tooth. Almost every day of the summer, my cousins and I would take a dip in here. My parents don't allow me and my siblings to take a swim but we always have a backup plan. We would borrow clothes from our cousins so that my parents wouldn't know that we actually swam in the river. Clever right? 😂
Aside from borrowing the clothes of my cousins, my Aunt prepared lunch for us and we would eat at the Kubo in our chicken farm. We would eat pansit canton with rice. All of the simple meals that we could eat.
It's just so sad that we no longer swim in this river because it had become too polluted because of the irresponsible citizens who kept throwing garbage in the river.
Going to the mountains
Our family owns land in the mountains and my uncles and cousins would invite me to go with them. They would plant different vegetables and fruits there and they invite me to go with them when it's harvest time.
Going to the mountains made me learn to love agriculture and planting. We planted sweet potatoes, sweet corn, peanuts, peppers, and other agricultural products that you can think of. I also learned how to harvest sweet potatoes by hand, you just locate the root and voila you just have to dig until you see the potato.
One time, it was the harvest season of corn. The corn that was planted at that time was the one used for feeds. My cousin and I wanted to help and so we went there. We didn't wear any long sleeves and we just proceeded to help to harvest. It was so itchy. Hahahaha. My Dad and Uncle were laughing at us and told us that we should go home. Our 40 minutes trek going up was just 5 minutes trek downhill. As soon as we arrived near the river, we took a dip. Hahahaha. It helped ease the pain though but we will never help again. 😂
Tagu-taguan/ Hide and Seek
We would play this all the time, whether it would be afternoon or at night. One time, it was already evening and we decided to play this game. We were too little that time and we would fit in different places. We would hide in the plants, plant walls, in the tricycle, and all the places that you could imagine. The Taya in this game is really kawawa because it's taking a lot of time to find us.
Just imagine that we really enjoyed this game and our guardians would look for us because we haven't eaten our lunch or dinners. Hahahaha.
Luksong Baka
This is a difficult game. It requires jumping over the "baka/cow" without falling over it. One wrong move and your face will head straight over the floor.
Visiting the Cows
Almost every afternoon, my cousin would go visit the cows and bring them water. Water is scarce where the cows are located especially when it's the summer season. By that, my cousin needed to get water from the river and bring it over to the cows. I would go with him sometimes and we would ride at the back of the cows like a cowboy. Fortunately, their cows are not aggressive and allow us to ride.
Going to the rice fields
We do a lot of things when we're at the rice fields. My parents trained us to handle farm situations and even ordered us to look after it when it's already harvesting season so that the birds will not eat the rice. I would sometimes be the one to bring the food to the rice fields for our workers. And sometimes I am the one who's going to the rice milk to sell the sacks of rice. All in all, my parents taught us to learn how to farm and to look at the reality of life.
One thing that we also do in the rice fields is to look after the ducks that my uncle owns. He owns 200 ducks and would graze at the rice fields and eat the snails and rice grains. Every 5 p.m., we would call the ducks and bring them to their cage. I remember that we would race in the rice fields and we would hold our shorts up so that the mud wouldn't get dirty. Hahahaha.
Visiting my relatives every day
Since I am not hooked on playing with gadgets and watching the television, I would visit my relatives every day. I go to their house every morning because I have nothing to do in my house until they would invite me to eat lunch and dinner. Basically, I grew up with a lot of elderly by my side. There isn't a chance that they would take care of me and I am forever grateful for that.
Taking a bath in the rain
I love this so so much! Taking a bath in the rain plus playing with friends. Ahhh I miss it! We would also fill up the plastics that were used as banderitas with water and we would throw them at each other's faces. We would just stop when someone is already crying and blame everyone for why they cried. 😂
I miss doing all of these things but only one thing doesn't allow me --- time. I don't have the time to do all these things anymore. Like visiting my relatives for example, in the past, I can visit them every day but now? I can't visit even if their houses are just near me.
Growing up takes away the things that we usually do in the past but it's okay because it tells us that our lives are transitioning. As we grow older, we will experience never-ending transitions. It's just up to us on how we will end it.
Author's Note:
Hola! On the first day of December and I am happy because I was able to be productive and do all the things that I planned for today. That m you for reading!
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we all have that one special place na puno ng happy and fun memories ng rating pagka bata. hahays. Pero yung sa luksong baka, ka bwisit na luksong baka na yan, dahil diyan muntikan na akong mabalian ng buto HAHAH