...these are actually random musings on how I remember my childhood, the
people in the home I came to know (or the people I came to know in our home) and
the events that happened inside and outside that home....
This is the part where my younger sister, 7 years younger than me to be
exact, is still too young to be involved or simply, wasn't yet born...
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While most mothers would hum a lullaby or gently pat their kids to sleep,
Nanay, on the other hand, would stroke our eyebrows until we (that is, my
brother and I) would doze off. I can still remember that feeling until now; I
sometime close my eyes as I lay down and stroke my eyebrows gently and once
again, feel like I was back in our small house in the province years ago lying
on my Nanay's lap and feeling her soft finger tips tracing my eyebrows.
Though we were taught in our Human Development subject that almost all of the
people has this childhood amnesia thing where they cannot remember the
things that had happened to them when they were 3 years and younger, there are
just some important moments in my toddler years that seem so unforgettable.
I still can remember that feeling of calmness such simple gesture brings up
until now. My brother and I would lie near Nanay almost every afternoon. She
would tell us to go to sleep but then I would each fake my sleep (I don't know
if my brother was doing the same) and just let her continue this short ritual we
shared. A bond a mother forms with her children moments before she sends
them off to dreamland.
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Tatay used to work as a nurse in San Lazaro but later on came back and stayed
for good when I was about to start elementary school. So he was never really
there when we were starting to learn our first words and taking our first
steps. BUT I remember him being there when we first rode our
trainer-free bicycle and after that, learning how to ride a scooter we got from
our Tita Nemy and then our very own skate shoes.
Tatay would bake donuts, usually chocolate-flavored ones during our birthday
and then when we got a waffle maker later on, shifted on making those. Over the
years, he started making all sorts of food at home such as pizza, baked
milkfish, our favorite pancake and 'combo' etc. I always take pride in
tatay's dishes especially when guests would come eat at home.
Nanay had tried a number of times to copy Tatay's dishes and my younger
brother, my younger sister and I would make fun of her since it would either be
too salty or too bland. She never got angry at us until that one moment when we
totally complained on the way she fried the fish (copying Tatay's style). It was
way too salty and then we started making fun of it. My mother really
turned red (she easily turns red anyway) and she straight away told my siblings
and I to just shut up and eat the food.
My Tita's (we call her Nene) cooking is another matter. . She once
forgot to put seasonings on the instant noodle she was cooking. My cousins and I
were all eating it while complaining that it was sooo tasteless. Just as we were
about to finish up the meal, I decided to ask her if she actually put seasonings
on the noodles and then it was when she saw the still unopened packets just
lying near the gas range. We finished an entire meal of JUST boiled
noodles.
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