By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
Year after year, no matter how jam-packed events are, certain patterns always make themselves stand out among the rest. As part of a family that keeps on getting bigger, the children getting through another year at school is and will always be a marvelous sight. After all, there are no celebrations in our family without food, relatives, and faith. And as our elders always like to keep on reminding us to finish school, it is a great feeling to realize their expectations are coming to reality bit by bit. At that point, their smiles were just icing on the cake. We still preferred the actual cake on the table.
A family of great numbers inside a house with a bathroom of just one is not a great experience. Although, when children are involved, even smelly situations can be fun. Even now, personal stories involving the bathroom make for a good laugh around the table. As we recall the odd positions we used when we were old enough to relieve ourselves on our own. From the classic frog like position to the frog like but with the shirt pulled overhead form, it’s a wonder how we did our business with such acrobatic positions. Yet, the stories involving clogged toilets always needed time to pass to get a laugh out of our elders. After all, they can’t really laugh when the perp is in front of them, even when they smile, its not a wholesome one.
However, we would not let such wonderful stories pass along into oblivion. The children in us make sure to tease our parents whenever we have the chance. Although in doing so, we had to balance our words and make sure we don’t hit their soft spots. And depending on their mood, it’s always best to keep our jokes to ourselves. Now, as we are all grown up, I find that it really is hard to smile after unclogging a toilet by yourself. Even worse when you get reminded of it later on, along with their smiles and giggles.
Though, as I recall there has never been a year without its challenges. One of those recurring challenges have always been the car troubles. We may ride an old beauty, but she always made sure we got to our destinations. She always needed her annual rest, though her schedule is one we can never figure out. For this year, it just so happened that her beauty rest was scheduled in the rainy parts of the year. It’s not all bad, as we get to support our jeepney drivers this way.
While our calendars have already gotten past the halfway mark of the year, we have been through much challenges and obstacles. Perhaps it is a bit early reminding ourselves to value each day before another year will pass. But I believe it is the opposite. After all it won’t be long before we start getting distracted by Christmas songs. **
