Reliving the past

…or rather, living the now.

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Return to the tribe roots

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Getting back to Tacloban was not rediscovery for me. It was neo-discovery. I just realized how blind and indifferent I was to my very own family tree.

While my mom and I were waiting at the airport, she was quickly scribbling some digits while I was reading a pocketbook. I asked her what she was doing, and she replied “recounting our expenses….” What? She was writing way too fast. Ako naman, I was shocked. Seriously, I never knew my mom could manage time in split seconds. If I were in her shoes, it would have taken me thirty seconds to remember my expenses for the past two days, and another thirty to remember their prices, and a minute or two to list them, and perhaps another minute to add them all up. But, my mom?? She was multi-tasking: for this split-second she simultaneously remembered the expenses and wrote down their respective prices (without listing the labels), and for that split-second she added them all up like a human calc. Migosh, I was really shocked. I knew her course was accounting, but rapid accounting?? And later that day, my dad would say numbers, and my mom would respond, as if she did not even think, with numbers. Mom was mentalling math?? I was really shocked with her abilities and my unknowing of her abilities. Maybe that was why she was disappointed with my econ grade (there’s a connection between econ and accounting, right?). I wanted to tell her there was such a thing as recessive genes. Perhaps, econ-intelligence is recessive and my dad was not really that good in econ. Haha.

Anyway, due to the typhoon, there were hours without electricity. And, it was damn hot!!! So, Mom and Dad suggested that I visit my grandparents this night. We brought pasalubong. Just some stuff. Well, the important thing is my grandparents. I learned a lot from them that night. They told me their history, and no, it was not very long. Just their academic achievements and more pressure for me. Lolo spoke well again after months of mumbling malarkey. This time, I noticed the authority and power within his regained voice (amid his old age). Dad told my grandpappy about my upcoming graduation. And Lolo responded by bragging about his college life. I do notice my Lolo digesting crosswords daily but I only knew just now that he was cum laude (I dared not ask whether summa or magna, baka mawindang ako lalu) for BOTH his BS E(??) (pre-law course) and his LLB(law)!! What!! More pressure for me, yey!!! He continued with Skolar din ako nun!! Uhm, he just paid for his first semester and the rest was miscellaneous payments. And my mom, goes: he just took his DOST scholarship exam. I wanted to blurt out: Don’t expect too much mom, I’m not so sure with that weird exam.
It suddenly came to me that my granddad became councilor of Tacloban (the people loved him) for a time, and I remember those LOPEZ-stickers posted almost everywhere. My Lolo lived a very meaningful life.
Anyway, to protect myself from more pressure, I bade goodbye.

And, when we reached our car, mom told me about my great-Lolo Paquito (mom’s granddad) who also took law and lived till his nineties. Great-grandpup, as mom told me, read the newspaper by the age of ninety, WITHOUT glasses. WHOA! Really?? All I knew was that he chomped veggies for all of his life. He was a great lawyer too, like my dad and my granddad. No sooner was my mom’s story interrupted than my dad exclaimed FLAT!! Haha. What the hell? So we had to wait for a few minutes. I stared blankly at the candle, the car, and the very clear stars; they all stared back at me by doing what they did: the candle burned in the wind, the car stood where it was, and the stars twinkled. And we had to wait…

“Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” Mt. 7:17 (NIV)

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Quote of the day::

“When you’re rotten about yourself, you become rotten to everyone else, even those you love.”
- Mitch Albom, for one more day