the second trip

After a bit of a discussion with my family, I decided to head home and be the family representative (sort of) to say goodbye to my uncle. Although I missed the funeral itself and only visited the grave site, it was enough to see my aunt and cousin even if only for two weeks.

As with all goodbyes, it was spent reminiscing about the past and looking forward to moving on. Memories of our Puerto Azul trip was mentioned numerous times and those that were shared by other relatives and his coworkers and neighbors. It was kind of odd to be in the same house and not have my uncle there but that's how life is. Sigh.

Anyway.

The rest of my stay there was spent accompanying my aunt to file documents of all sort which meant waiting for hours and traveling to different places. Then SM became my hangout place during the afternoon to fill my luggage with the usual pasalubong just like last time. Í became the regular customer at Goldilocks and the internet cafe for one week. The girl who works there eventually called me by my first name as if we were long time friends much to my delight. :D One day was also spent at my hometown with my elementary friends which included drinking and talking about how we were before.

Airport stories and the rest will have to be on the next post. :D My goal for today is to recover from some sort of stiff neck after sleeping in an awkward position while in the plane for hours and hours. Eek.

Did I mention I'm back to work tomorrow?

Another EEK!

to my uncle

Thank you for:

... replying to my letters when I was a kid and not making fun of my chocolate factory drawings until I was old enough to laugh at my own silliness.
... bringing us pasalubong when you come home from work whenever we stayed at your house during summer vacation.
... making us laugh even when we're on the verge of crying for whatever reason.
... being the first to volunteer to pick any of us at the airport.
... taking time off work to drive us around anywhere we wanted to go.
... letting us stay in your room while you sleep in the living room.
... watching over us instead of taking a rest just to make sure we were safe.
... for introducing me to that amusing electric fly swatter.
... treating my siblings and I as if we were your own children.


I don't really know what else to say but to thank you for everything.

I'm happy to have had the chance to spend some time with you even for just two weeks. Vacation won't be the same without you there next time. We will miss you.

At least we have this memory...

yesterday

It took one picture to trigger the memories.

Sigh.

How can everything be changed by something so unexpected?
No signs or warning.
Or is it possible they were misconstrued as nothing?
I guess life is just full of unexpected events.

During these contemplative moments, I'm convinced that planning the future is merely for plan-b's sake.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring?