@abrilata 1 March 2025

It's 2005

It’s the year 2005. I woke up; it’s still dark outside, but I can already hear the roosters. I went ahead to look for Mama and saw her in the kitchen cooking. I saw Papa leaving for work. Mama is really beautiful with her short hair. It suits her best. Papa is good-looking too. He's tall and has wide shoulders. Mama is already tired, but she keeps doing her best to take care of us. I saw my sister getting out of the bathroom, and she’s wearing her white uniform. My sister—she is really pretty. She’s going to school and preparing for breakfast. I am humming while I sit in our chair. It’s getting lighter outside. I started to hear more roosters and also that one boy selling bread around the neighborhood. I hear his voice saying, "Pandesal! Pandesal!" My other two sisters are getting ready for school too. They are wearing white blouses and red checkered long skirts. My two sisters—they are pretty too. Mama then called the pandesal boy and bought 20 pesos worth of pandesal. I remember it was a lot back then. I also went to see and smell the fresh pandesal that she bought as she put it down on the table. It was the size of my two fists! It smells so nice. Mama sat with us at the table as she made Milo for us and prepared her coffee. I immediately drank my cup of Milo, but dang! It was so hot, I burned my tongue. My sisters laughed and showed me that I should have blown on it first. My other sister started to dunk half of her pandesal into her Milo! It tasted chocolatey and sweet! I remember how my mom prepared it: one pack of Milo for two cups. I didn’t mind! Everything that tasted sweet back then was so delicious! Mama cooked sinangag, fried eggs, and tuyo. She also prepared a Lucky Me chicken noodle dish! Although there was a lot of water, it still tasted great! I bit the mouth of the tuyo first because I liked it back then. And its scales! For the eggs, I don’t like them raw, I like them medium well! "Isang subo, isang inom," that’s what my grandma taught us. After we ate our breakfast, Mama cleaned and washed the dishes. I saw my sisters going out for school. My eldest sister had her hair in a bun, my other sister had a high ponytail, and my other sister had pigtails. They looked clean, they were all pretty, and they smelled so good. I think they were using Johnson's cologne, and if I’m not mistaken, my eldest sister was wearing Young's cologne, the one with the spray, and it was light green! I am really proud of my sisters. I admire them so much. I remember my brothers, and I wish they’re safe in Manila. I’m really excited for when they get home. I love them so much; they are our great kuya's, and I miss them so much. When they were still with us, we always dined at the same table, every day and every night. It was a must! It was a law in our house: stop everything you’re doing, respect the food, and give thanks to God. And I started believing that it was a law. I went ahead and bonded with Mama. She is now cleaning our front yard with her *walistingtig*. This *walistingtig* is from our own coconut tree! But I’m sad because they plan to cut it down. I sat down on our swing. Papa and Mama made this swing under our jackfruit tree. I am humming songs from "Polaris and Asong Walang kaparis" that song that have a lyrics of " how much is that doggie in the window barf! barf! barf! . I kept thinking and dreaming about how high the sky is. I was still on the swing. I saw the trunk of the tree with lots of designs Mama made from *anik-anik* that Papa brought home. There were red hearts! There were small toys and figurines! I looked up, and some leaves were falling from the langka tree. There were rays of sunlight, and they were blinding. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I saw small circles. As I stared up and stared down, those transparent bubbles also moved up and down slowly. I even tried to catch them by looking. They call it eye floaters, if I’m not mistaken. It was really windy. I could hear our wind chimes. By the way, the sound of the wind chime was like someone making coffee, you know, the sound when spoons touch the inside of a glass! That kind of sound. As I noticed, the wind chime had a Winnie the Pooh design! I giggled because I remembered that Winnie the Pooh doesn’t wear shorts! But he’s cute. I want to spend a day with him one day. By now, Mama is resting, but she gets her crochet set. I followed her. Mama is really wonderful. I am amazed because she can do almost everything! I aspire to be like her someday because she’s just so lovable and amazing. Mama is making phone cases for her orders. I believe Papa gets Mama’s orders, and he sells them at work! Papa is also a great father. He never raises his voice at us. He’s very calm and kind. I remember when we didn’t have electricity, he made a *gasera* that helped us get through the night! He also showed us how to make shadow figures with our hands. Every night felt so endless and warm. When we lay down to sleep, I see fireflies everywhere. My sister even caught one! I remember his kind words when he recited poems like "Pana at ang Awit," and when he sang to us "Wonderful Tonight." It was a kind night. Papa sang, *"I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee. I’m goin’ to Louisiana, my true love for to see. Oh! Susanna, now don’t you cry for me, for I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee."* His voice sounded nice. I love him very much. He was fanning us with a small carton until we were fast asleep. I really had a simple life back then. A gentle life that I will always cherish, wherever I go. How I miss those times! I can say that we’re living a lot better now. It’s true when they say, *"Hindi na marami ang tubig sa noodles*." Yes, indeed! Pero hindi na tulad ng dati. Minsan nalamang nabubuo sa hapag kainan.