I had a very nice day spent with cuzin Nicky whom I’ve missed so much since he’s been living in Japan for the last nine months. He’s only here for the Christmas break but the whole clan is so happy to see him.

In the Zurbano clan (my mom’s side), I have 9 cuzins all-in-all, all blood-related. Being the eldest granddaughter in the family, I was everyone’s Ate, and in return, all my cuzins are very special to me and they all have unique relationships with me.

As for Nicky, everyone in the family respects that other than being very close as cuzins, we are the bestest of friends. That’s why it is a common scenario that Nicky and I have dates–solo dates, with no other cuzins and/or our significant others with us.

And today was no different. Since Nicky is here for two weeks, everyone knew that one of these days, we would go out. And we did that today.

We had lunch at Pancakes, this time I treated him because before he was always treating me out. We shared Fish & Chips, Pizza and Pancakes. Iba daw kasi ang Fish and Chips sa Japan kaya I ordered that for him.

We talked about a lot of things, of how we were for the past nine months. He told me a lot of his adventures in Japan, their way of living there, how people are more respectful, the food that they eat at kung anu-ano pang mga kwentong-Japan that will make you want to go there. Nakakatuwa. Just hearing him talk about his life in Japan, makes me so proud of him because he was able to survive there even without his family and friends. Iba talaga ang nagagawang change sa pagkatao mo if you move to another country or you immerse yourself in travel.

In the course of our discussion, we both agreed that if one stays in their home country for the rest of their life or never even travel to other places, the person becomes complacent. And if you are complacent, not much growth happens in your life. When you travel and/or live in another country, even for just awhile, you will really change—you will be mature in some ways or grow in lots of ways and you’ll have a bigger perspective in life.

Nasabi ko tuloy sa kanya, “Now you know how it feels to move and be able to survive even if you start from zero again, such a nice feeling ‘no? The fullfillment is enormous.” And he agreed.

Anyway, after a lot of serious and not-so-serious conversations, we ended the day by hanging out in my room and fixing my computer (he’s our IT guy hehehe). The family will surely miss him again when he goes back to Japan but we’ll always be here for him no matter where he is. And the other thing we agree on—even if we love other countries, Sydney will always be home. 🙂

He’s the one and only Papa I’ve ever known in my entire life. Siya lang at wala nang iba. And I miss having him around. After all these years, I still miss his presence badly.

When I was a kid, Papa was always around to walk me to school, bring my lunch to school and then pick me up from school. He was my “yaya” of some sort. He even prepares me my merienda when I arrive from school.

Once he forgot to pick me up from school—I was so distressed waiting for him at the gates of my school. I waited for almost an hour, and when I lost hope, I asked somebody to help cross the street so that I can walk home by myself. When I got home, he was not there. I went to our neighborhood’s Mahjong-an place—and he was there. He was playing Mahjong and forgot about me. I cried and he was so sorry for what he did. Of course I forgave him.

He was the man who taught me how to smoke. When I was eight years old, he’d always ask me to buy cigarettes from the nearby sari-sari store. And sometimes, he’d want his cigarettes to be lit already, so he taught me how. My mom will probably go ballistic when she reads this.

He also taught me how to take care my pets at home—we took care of doves (I got from my Tita Vhey’s wedding) and chicks na nagiging chickens na. We feed them, we play with them, we watch them “hang out” inside the cage together. The doves, we eventually let them go–nakakawa if they’re kept in a cage eh. The chicks that turned into chickens became tinolas for dinner hehehe.

I always wonder what our life would be like if Papa was still here. Maybe our family get-togethers will be noisier, funnier. One thing is for sure, the Zurbano* clan will be a little more complete with Papa’s presence.

And since today is your special day, let me just tell you:

Happy birthday Papa. Thank you for being a cool Lolo. I will always be grateful that I became the first granddaughter in the family because you loved me first. I love you.

*Zurbano clan – refers to my mother’s family.

Since I rummaged our old photos for our 5th Syota-Anniversary last Friday, I chanced upon Chris’ Artwork of himself which he drew in 2004. And so before safekeeping the CD that holds our photos, I decided to immortalize it here in my site.

I have always been in awe of Chris’ talent, not because he is related to me but simply because he is just that—talentado talaga sya eh (hehehe). I’ve always been fascinated with people who are gifted since they were kids and then they follow their passion till the end no matter what.

I remember Chris’ Mama telling me some fond memories of his art adventures when he was a kid:
(1) That he learned how to draw first before learning how to write
(2) That he started drawing when he was three years old
(3) When he started going to school, he’d save his allowance and buy paper and pencil just so he could draw.

Nakaka-fascinate diba? Kahit bata pa lang sya, he had the discipline and passion for what he loved doing. At such a young age, he knew what he wanted to do and stayed focused.

Now on being biased, how I wish our future kids would emulate the kind of passion that Chris has. It doesn’t matter what they want to do, just as long as they know what they want, I’ll be a proud and supportive mom, just like Chris’ Mama.