noel alanguilan

my mother is here for a short visit. she left san pablo at 5 in the morning to get to see robin perform in his field demo at 8am. she’ll head back to the province tomorrow afternoon after a homecoming reunion at holy spirit.

i have often thought of my mother’s side of the family — mostly the women — as a little different from other families that i’ve known. they’re long-lived — my grandmother and my aunt beatrice — nanay bateng to us — passed away when they were in their 90s. considering that they had their own individual vices over the decades, that’s a pretty long life.

they’re always busy doing something — planting, picking rice, cooking, watering the garden or cleaning something. its funny, the first thing that mom does after waking up is to clean robin’s room and parts of the house. the hand is never idle.

they’re also a bit of a nomad, it seems. they can’t to stay put in the same place for a period of time. if the wind changes, so did the place where they lay their heads. this was especially true with my aunt. you’ll find her in bulacan one week and in manila the next. it seems that visiting relatives is a hobby for them. they eventually came to call san pablo home. my mom would visit us in manila when we can’t go to san pablo mostly just to see her apo (grandchild).

these visits, i know, robin appreciates. me too.

photo: one of the lakes in san pablo. taken by gerry.

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