Monday, December 29, 2008

a red reunion




that time of the year came with much anticipation.




the carandang-magsino clan had every reason to celebrate. finally, real (and corporeal) blessings started pouring in. this is indeed a good chance to have a bit of every good thing imaginable within reach and without guilt.
these blessings went on to grace the colorful pages of our once untouched family album of veiled miseries and daily life struggles. so here we are, putting back the pieces to create our own less than perfect world.


now, merriments came by the handful. today, everyone was happy. not a single soul showed up with a hypocritical remark about not living "the good life" at last. we were all saved by the elusive golden bell. Midas was one demi-god who played hard to get at one point in our lives.


tarawoods was built to last forever. it's nature's haven. WE are part of this nature, however gloriously sated our skin and bones are with heavy make-up and moisturizers.


there was a time when i didn't see myself one with nature. we would wear name tags for what? identification, recognition or association? i was a fool for thinking this way. my mom's being hopeful and forgiving did not rub on me. i was quiet most of the program for fear of telling the wrong truths to my relatives who traveled 2 hours to prove that solidity and lineage definitely matter. we did the best we could to reach out to our relatives, under the circumstances.

i was a bit unfair to some, but who would've thought i would reach a point of isolation during puberty? i didn't bother looking at their encouraging eyes when they made an effort to get to know me behind the pair of geeky imaginary glasses i used to wear to feel invisible. for many times, i had hoped for calamity to swallow my 5'4 figure and spew me out just in time for merienda (i love brown puto!).


at a time when corruption is at its record high; when charter change seemed to suggest more of a piecemeal revision of the constitution than it promised; when the lehman brothers woke the big 5 up to alert the united nations' security council...the members of the carandang-magsino family were all smiles, wearing blue and red caps--not to fend off the sun's penetrating heat, but to have the exclusive sense of belonging--enjoying God's graces and blessings to maximum utility and dressed in colors of the rainbow (except indigo).


it was a time to feel impervious to pain, hurt and anger. it was a time for mending broken hearts and beliefs. it was a time for forgiveness.


my only regret is not knowing my cousins well enough to share their dreams and tell them that life is not so bad...if we hold on to what is real and never let go.
indeed, hope floats :)


here is where our stories and our daughters' and sons' stories shall be written and told under the oldest oak tree that once was lolo puti's legacy...and here is where i shall--for my lifetime at least--choose to spend red reunions...all decembers of my life.


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