... just some random bedtime thoughts.
1. My nanny, Ate Lorna, left us to get married when i was 6. She must have been the one responsible for my being too impatient most of the time. And well, yes, for being bitchy at times.
2. There was one instance when i was allowed to play outside with the neighbors/cousins. I went home crying after a few minutes because i had a fight with somebody. Apparently, i lost.
Two days after that, my dad made an improvised punching bag, and he hanged it in our sala, taught me the right way to punch and the moves, hehe. After lunch that day, my cousin Editha (the daughter of my mom's cousin, actually), stopped by. And probably too eager to test my new skill, i lunged at her and gave her a straight punch on the stomach. She almost passed out. I was so proud of myself then but I was grounded for two days because of that.
3. When i was three or four years old, my mom used to read bible stories to get me to sleep after lunch. There was a time when she was too busy that she was not able to read to me. I tried reading the bible (Bicol version) on my own. That was how i learned to read.
4. We used to have chickens in our backyard. During one of my afternoon naps with my mom, i tiptoed outside to play with the newly-hatched chicks. I remembered getting them out of their cage one by one, and then i saw my mom and Ate Lorna running towards me, their faces in total shock and panic because i had been screaming so loud. I was on hysterics then because i stepped on and killed one of the chicks. That, ladies and gentlemen, was the only time i committed murder.
5. I wore a red dress on my fourth birthday. I liked that dress very much that i insisted on wearing it on my brother’s college graduation a month later. But then, i grew up hating the color red and not owning any piece of clothing with that shade. I am okay now though, i have five or six red tops already.
6. I had been a witness to a real murder scene when i was six. It was dawn when i woke Ate Nandi (our house help after Ate Lorna) because both my mom and dad left me to go to church. I asked her to accompany me outside to go walking on the beach. It was then that we saw a man being stabbed to death on the beach right in front of our house. Ate Nandi had to cover my mouth to stop me from screaming. This event must have started my aversion to the color red.
7. I stepped over the embers from our barbecue grill when i was seven years old. I had planned to use it to cook using my clay pots and i could not remember where i placed the coals until after i felt them smoldering my feet. Until now, i still shiver each time i remember how the burning coals clung to my feet and couldn't be removed until after my mom poured water at my burning foot.
8. There wasn't a day in my childhood when my knees weren't scraped and bleeding. My elbows too, sometimes. There must be a reason why my parents waited til i was 12 before buying me my first and, as it turned out, my only bike.
9. I was naughty at times, but a good kid, in general. I wanted to be a values education teacher when i was six. My kinder graduation speech was actually about how i will be a teacher and will educate thousands of other kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment