and yet another one

and so after four years of waiting for their papers to be in order, my brother-in-law ryan, with his wife tricia, and their two kids vino and sofia, finally left the other day to migrate to canada.

throughout the past couple of years, some of our family and friends have fled our country for good. i should be getting used to this but i'm not. i understand why all of them want out but can't help feeling terrible that they have lost all hope in our country.

the major regret i have with ryan and family's leaving is that our kids will not be able to grow up together. all four cousins, arianna, vino, roque and sofia, were born here. they have bonded so much with each other since they were babies. arianna and vino play games on-line while roque and sofia chit-chat on the phone. it's usually vino who calls arianna to go on-line and play, "hello ate arianna, go to your computer, let's play." and it's usually roque who calls sofia on the phone, "hello, this is roque. is sofia there?... hi sofia." whenever we visit the ancestral home in caloocan where their cousins live, they would play and play and play all day and all night until they fall asleep. usually it would be arianna or roque dozing off while their energizer bunny-like cousins play on until almost midnight. and that was exactly how it was as we watched ryan and tricia pack their stuff into boxes two nights before their flight.

during their despedida, arianna gave vino a keychain as a little remembrance. it was a carabao head made out of carabao horn. how so pinoy. and to it, she attached a laminated message which read, "psst... you're pinoy. be proud." i was so proud of her because her message says she's so pinoy and she's proud to be one.

while in the airport waiting for boarding, ryan phoned gary to say everything went well with checking-in their seven balikbayan boxes and one huge luggage, say thank you for the baon we gave, and say goodbye. roque, of course, wanted to speak to sofia. he talked animatedly on the phone, telling her that when he went to new zealand last summer, he had his own tv monitor in the airplane. then sofia had to go. before hanging up, roque said "bye, sofia." and after sofia hung up, i heard roque say to himself, still holding the phone to his ear, "bye..... bye.... bye". no tears, but just a repeated sad "bye-bye" softly to himself.

the kids echoed exactly how we felt. roque's goodbye was like ours, sad but without tears. we hugged as we bid them, "goodbye, ingat." to which they answered, "ok, bisita kayo." arianna's message expressed what we wanted to say out loud but didn't. it is a reminder not just for vino, but for their whole family. we hope they never ever forget or be ashamed of who they really are.

lovelier the second time around

the first time was 25 years ago.
and i was just sending him postcards then.
but paris was lovelier the second time around.

somehow the colors against the sky were more vivid.
somehow the city bustled with much more excitement.
somehow the ancient structures came to life.
somehow the scent of the seine always lingered fresh.
somehow the music of beethoven played continously in my head.
somehow the food was much more flavorful.
somehow the energy to explore was endless.
somehow the days were just never ever enough.
somehow the nights were more romantic than ever.

because this time i was with no one else but him,
my best friend, soul mate, life partner, lover.

that is why paris was lovelier the second time around.