as of today, its going to be just me and my eldest brother in the house. parents have already migrated to Guam. they should’ve landed early morning there today.
i was expecting a swelling of emotions yesterday when we were seeing my folks off at the airport, but thankfully, no, i didn’t go emo about it. maybe because i had other issues occupying my head.
to top the day off, we passed Obando, my hometown before my family and i left it (pre-college), on the way to Guiguinto, to mainly avoid expressway traffic. we even ate at the lugawan i used to frequent: LUGAW NI OGO (its near Obando). there was no more lugaw or goto though. we had to settle for some so-so bulalo, lechon kawali and adobong tahong. streets are still narrow, but there were more buildings, and the house facades weren’t the same: the apparently local-trendy stainless steel gates were getting higher. i didnt even see the old path to our house, nor the barbecue-han everyone was so fond of then.
this morning, i cooked breakfast. some longganisa, eggs, danggit. i even cleaned our old steamer/rice cooker, since no one in the house likes tutong anymore. my brother and i never talked regarding this agreement with our parents, wherein we’d allow a cousin’s wife to cook for us. she can do the laundry, doing palengke chores, do general cleaning, but we’ll cook for ourselves. i don’t like my brothers cooking, mainly for his unsightly experiments. my cooking, i guess, is closest to my mom’s. maybe not that great, but i can honestly say my ampalaya dishes are less bitter than hers. i also claim responsibility for less tomato sauce is meat stew dishes, and the reintroduction of the laurel leaf to menudo and afritada.
in sum, yes, my parents’ migrating will be good for us. but im still not comfortable with my folks, in their age, toiling in another country. they should just be ‘sitting pretty‘, as my dad would like to put it.