no place like home

my mother, brother and i went home to my parents' hometown this past weekend. the reason for this is to see how our grandfather was doing after his nine-hour operation on his esophagus tumor. everyone in our family had insisted we go home to see him because he seemed very frail day by day.

so on friday (actually saturday morning since my mom and i got left behind by the bus), we prepared to go home. thankfully, our grandfather is doing very well with the help of a feeding tube and the presence of his family.

what truly makes it worthwhile though, aside from having seen our grandfather do well, is to be close to family again. it's been years since i've been home and it's fun to see my uncles, aunts and cousins again. getting to know our youngest cousin is a feeling i won't forget. he was a lively kid with so much charm, and because of that charm, i had promised to buy him his schoolbag, not knowing that it would cost almost two grand! hahaha... but to be able to help my cousin, as his father had helped take care of us when we were kids, i'm willing to do it again.

the next day, we went to visit my other grandmother who is turning ninety-nine this year. hopefully, she will reach the ripe age of one hundred next year, as she is planning to give away her picture as a souvenir on her birthday. isn't that great that my grandma is now looking forward to her 100th year and already thinking of a souvenir? :) today, she may be frail but all in all, she is healthy - physically and mentally. she drinks her milk, takes her vitamins, and eats her raisins (she insists it's raisin eventhough the label already states that they are cranberries) for good bowel movement. at noon, a priest comes to give her her communion. unfortunately, she still alternates in speaking in english and ilocano (thank God she hadn't started speaking in Spanish when she insisted i take all her spanish books) and it's hard to let her know that only english will do. she is a little deaf now and the only way she can hear us is when we raise our voice. yes, that's my grandmother.

kuya had the best time too, i think. he was able to take care of my grandfather, look over our grandmother's health, wrangled out an invitation to tour the provincial hospital from the chief whom he met at a conference he attended earlier in the week, and lastly, he was able to get to know the youngest of our cousins.

this past weekend was not bad at all, not bad. my brother and i even had a chance to travel together for the very first time when we went back to manila together. we got stranded after our bus broke down, had to transfer in a cramped bus, experienced a severe (but fortunately not long) traffic, before arriving home at the apartment.

thank God for this weekend! there's truly, there's no place like home and no more loving people than family.