— Our Dream House

“There is no place like home.” indeed this saying is true, living in a specific place is significant as we take our journey of life here on Earth.

The place where you live where your mind and body are safe, comfortable, and pleased could affect how you face your day-to-day living and could mold your personality and point of view too.

One evening, as my kids were deeply sleeping, I was lying in my bed, waiting for my husband to go home from work when I heard someone knock on the door, it was my cousin.

Since it's just me and the kids, she suddenly wanted to visit me so we could chit-chat. We've been preoccupied these days made us communicate lesser than before even though we just live in one compound.

She told me about how hard her duties are as a Barangay Secretary and how stressful her life is whenever she goes home. She just wanted to flee because their house is not what it was before.

Their family problems just become thicker and she couldn't stand it.

Until we both shared our sentiments about how we wanted to escape here in the residence.

“Do you still remember our dream as kids?”

“— The duplex!” we both chuckled.

My cousin and I used to dream of having a duplex house.

What is a Duplex House?

A duplex is a house that has been divided into two separate units for two different families or groups of people.

Definition from: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/duplex

During my elementary days, I was fond of drawing things that I like such as gowns, dresses, interior designs of a living room or a bedroom, etc. Also, I love to draw my “dream house”, I am very detailed in how my doors and windows should look, and could still remember them and I colored my dream house with a combination of colors light purple and pink.

Since my cousin was like a sister, she always came to our house because we were just neighbors, we were so much more comfortable with each other, and she saw my drawing.

“I wanted to be your neighbor until we get old, cousin! You can't live far from me, okay?” she insisted.

She asked me to draw her house near my drawn dream house, yet I told her my idea, why not we'll just make a duplex house?

That's one of our lessons in elementary so I could still picture what a duplex house looks like. I explained it to her and I revised my drawing of my, or shall I say our dream house.

We made a two-story house with a balcony on the second floor just outside of our neighboring imagined rooms so we could talk there and have a cup of coffee without leaving our rooms. 😅

Then she suggests putting a special sliding window near the dining area so we could exchange viands and foods.

Then we also thought of making a bungalow duplex house instead if we can't afford the two-story one.

We wanted our lawn to be full of greens with high fences so we could live our private life happily without others spying on us because we're too tired of the eyes of other people around.

It's just we just want to spend a peaceful and quiet life together with our future family.

Because we were just comfortable with each other we never imagined a life away from each other, we're like sisters from different moms though. And our relationship remains that way until this very moment.

The way we talked about our dream home was so fun yet serious at some point.

As we wanted to enjoy a life that's stress-free and far from stressful people who stress us. Because of our young age, both of us were already pressured into what we call life.

Those times we were so full of ambitions, and our imagination was just nonstop though we were thinking silly things at some times too.

Until today, we were still thinking about it, the duplex house we used to yearn for.

And we couldn't help but just reminisce about it as we had a chance to do a heart-to-heart talk.

She wanted to escape from where she is living today, but I couldn't help her but just support her and give her comfort.

“Don't stress yourself that much, who knows, I might win the lottery jackpot we will leave this place as soon as possible!” I jokingly said to her.

She just laugh yet I saw her teary eyes so I just made her laugh from time to time.

But seriously, until today, I could still recall the dream house we used to dream of, and there is a tiny bit of hope that I couldn't remove in my heart that one day, who knows, we could certainly make it happen.

Our plans might not fall from what we expect them to be, yet I know everything has its reason, and that's what I told her, just continue to strive and reach her realistic dreams.

— Unfortunately, my sketch of our dream house was gone years ago already yet the way it looks and how it was drawn is still fresh in my head. 😊

That piece of paper is more than just a drawing for us, it's where one of our dreams as cousins was created. And the term duplex will always have a special space in our hearts. 😉

Thanks for reading and the support. 💚

Written by: @eommaZel ✍🏻 🌿