Brothers & the Rest of the Clan
My
brothers went to Orion, Bataan for a 4-night,
3-day vacation in our father’s hometown where the whole Canaria clan (except
us) resides. It wasn’t something really planned. My older brother Russel has been
expressing explicitly his desire to visit Orion for the fiesta this May and
earlier this week, he got to talk on the phone to our father abroad who was
more than willing to finance the trip. Luckily, he was able to convince our
youngest, Ejay to join in.
They
left Thursday morning, and I was near the office building’s entrance when I read
a text message from a cousin in Orion, asking
what time ‘we’ will be arriving and informing that our recovering grandfather
has been anticipating ‘us’ already. I wasn’t sure of the exact time the arrival
would be but I was certain that I was on my way to work that day and not to Bataan.
I
haven’t returned there for about five years, I think. Last time was in college
with Dad and I remember crying on my way out of our house as if I was to leave
it for the rest of my life or I will be going to some strange place where no
one knows me or I was a milk-sucking infant taken away from his mother.
When
Dad came home this March, he thought I could accompany him in his yearly visit,
but both work and personal issues prevented me. I thought Dad should have known
that of us siblings, I am the least excited to go there but Mom knows it better.
Cavite has always been home to me, It is not the best and
most friendly place to live but I grew up my entire life here. While Bataan was just a place we spent some of our early
childhood summers and to associate it with my young adult life now gives me a
certain anxiety. I felt that I grew up away from these relatives that they only
know one dimension in me but perhaps I am being unfair for not giving them a
chance.
My
brothers were suppose to go home Saturday, but they went swimming so they ahd a
one day extension. They brought home with them, ‘suman’ (rice cakes, which is a
staple ‘pasalubong’ our grandmother cooks) and small talks on what’s going on to
almost every relative they reunited with. Some have curiously asked when I will
visit Bataan . Soon, perhaps. Hopefully, not
forced by some reason to get my ass up there because I think for now, our lives
are just fine this way.
