Saturday, November 05, 2005

I went home to the province with my parents for All Soul's Day. I always look forward to going home to my birthplace. Manila is my home now since my family is already based here but I still call my birthplace, HOME because somehow, I left a part of me there. When I was younger, going home meant going swimming in April, visiting my aunts' and Lolo's grave in November and lining up for Christmas presents in December. But lately, things have changed. You see, all of my mom's siblings (my mom is the eldest and she has 7 other living siblings) and my Lola are all living there. Going home for me now means talking to my aunt and cousin until the wee hours of the morning, going out with all my other cousins (26 in all), playing with my 2 nieces and nephew, listening to my Lola tell me all about her pains and medications or just catching up with my aunts and uncles. Now everytime I say goodbye to my Lola, aunts and cousins, I do so with a heavy heart. It used to be that 2 days was too long for me but now 3 days isn't enough. I have also noticed the same sadness in my cousins everytime they see us go. We are also never complete now during family gatherings. We must really all be getting old now...

Last November 2, we welcomed the newest addition to our growing family. Our shih tzu, Toni, gave birth to 5 beautiful and 1 handsome puppies. Sadly, 2 died a few minutes after birth and another one died late this afternoon. It really isn't that bad considering that Toni is a primi. Our vet says that Toni is such a good "breeder", giving birth to 6 puppies the first time. It would be wonderful if all the puppies survive but one friend says that this is usually not the case, maybe next time. I have never seen my father so panicked upon seeing that her precious Toni already gave birth to one puppy without the supervision of our vet. He scolded us because we didn't insist that we bring Toni to the vet the moment we saw signs that she may be giving birth soon when all the time that things were happening, he was there by Toni's side. We all laughed about it afterwards especially when my mom said "mas nag-panic ka pa noong nanganak si Toni kesa noong nanganak ako saka noong ipinanganak si Tricia". I just hope when the time comes to let go of the puppies, my dad would do so gladly.

Today is also my father's birthday. He turned 63 years old today. He doesn't look 63 though. I am praying that God will continue to bless him with good health so that we can all be together longer. I love you Papa! I know we will all be lost without you. You are the BESTEST!