Sta. Elena, my Home

Hi! I decided to write a blog about my short trip to my hometown because I can still feel it. LOL. It’s such a breath of fresh air to be able to spend some time with my family without thinking about the stressful life I have as a student. For the first time in months, I didn’t touch nor even opened my laptop for days. I didn’t think much about my unfinished tasks and it feels nice. It also helped me clear my mind off unwanted thoughts. It was really a healing time for me, it was just so simple yet very memorable.

June 16, 2021

This is the day we traveled to Sta. Elena. It was an almost three hours travel from here and it was fun. Traveling is always fun to me even if it’s just a twenty-minute or thirty-minute ride. We left 8:00 in the morning and we arrived past 11:00am. It was tiresome but I was excited about the things we were about to do because the bride-to-be told us that day that we’ll be making desserts for the wedding and she needs our help. Below is a picture I took of the national highway and a little bit of our old house, yes, we live along the road. I can see and hear vehicles all 24 hours of every day. And I love how I’m used to it so I don’t get a hard time sleeping at night when we were there. 😊

June 17, 2021

This is the day of the rehearsal for the wedding. For the first time, I’ve seen the family and friends of the groom. The rehearsal didn’t go as smoothly because the one in charge for the rehearsal wasn’t informed of the schedule for that day. We waited for almost two hours before the rehearsal finally started. A funny thing happened to me during the rehearsal because when we were practicing for the entourage, someone should be telling you when to walk but suddenly my partner started walking even without the signal so I was totally confused then my sister suddenly said, “Oh! Where’s his partner?” And me, out of confusion, instead of saying that I am his partner, it became like “Ah! Is it me????” And everyone inside the church laughed at me. It was so embarrassing, like one of those moments you wish for the ground to just eat you. Hahahahaha!

When night came, a simple party was held and it was a tradition called “Pasilong”. I don’t know exactly what it means but I think it’s some sort of a welcoming for the husband and wife to be.

June 18, 2021

The wedding day. Everyone was excited of course including me. We woke up very early because the make up team told us so. I woke up before 4am and the make up session for the bridesmaids and the bride started. It was not my first time but it felt like it because the last time I attended a wedding, I was a flower girl, when I was younger.

I love weddings, it always feels so magical to me. It gives me that feeling like you wanted to be in love because you see two people become one in marriage. Because I am a family of the bride and I know their story very well, I can’t help but get teary eyed as well seeing them cry. Their story is one of my ideal type of love because it is pure and unconditional. I wish them the best!

The reception proceeded next after the wedding ceremony. It went fine I must say, except the fact that it was too hot because of our dresses. There was a small program held for opening some gifts and the usual wedding traditions in our country like putting money on the newlyweds’ dress and suit as they dance and also the throwing of flowers and the removing of the garter thing.

June 19, 2021

It was supposed to be just a normal day until me, my sister and one of my cousins casually decided to visit their farm but in just a few hours it became a mini family reunion because our parents and other cousins decided to tag along. We had boodle fight in one of my cousin’s home, we visited other relatives’ houses, we laughed, we had a good time. It was one memorable day!

June 20, 2021

Best day ever aside from the wedding day. We went to a beach in another town of our province. We left at 6am and I lost track of time after that. We played in the sea, we drunk a little, we did some TikTok and most importantly, we took a lot of pictures for memories’ sake. Those events and activities we had really strengthened the bond between us cousins, it also somehow fixed some fights which I am really glad. It is one of those moments I can say that there is really no place like home.

June 21, 2021

We went back home. I felt sad of course. We were still preparing to leave but I was missing them already. There is always that feeling of not wanting to go, but you know you have to because of the responsibilities you left. I will surely miss them though.

My life there and my life here where we are currently staying, are far different from each other. Yes, everything is easier here because of our access in internet, the establishments and markets are just minutes away but I am able to appreciate more the fact that although life can get pretty hard, it’s also just very simple, in Sta. Elena. It reminded me that sometimes I should not think about anything and just enjoy life because there is happiness in that. It also gave me the opportunity to have time to let go of what has happened and to be able to accept it, may not be in an instant, but gradually, in a pace my heart can take. And I am thankful for that.  

I wrote this a few days ago but I only get to post now because of some personal things I had to deal with.

I hope this brought you joy in any way, and a feeling of missing home.

Thanks for reading! :)