Memories

Memories. Without a past we would have no roots. We would feel incomplete. Something would be missing. So today I invited my dad and my sister to go back to the place where we lived when I was five years old. I wanted to refresh my roots.

I turns out that we lived in two houses in that area. The first house is no more. It is now a bus terminal. The second house is still there. It is a part of an apartment "complex". One of the things I remember was a party of all the residents. There was a dance contest. I still remember the dance. It's called the twist. I don't remember who my partner was. I also remember that I slept while the party was going on and when I woke up I asked my dad who won. I didn't, of course.

I also made a wonderful discovery. We migrated to Manila when I was three years old. But I still remember things that happened when we were still in the province. That means that those memories go as far back as when I was at least three years old. Isn't that amazing?

Let me share with you two memories. The first was the nursery school (or was it a play school?). I remember an american woman came. Her eyes were blue (I remember that detail!) and she took a picture of us. The flash was a flash bulb (another detail!). You use it once. I don't think the electronic flash was in existence already.

The second memory was the pasalubong of my dad. He was working in Manila. But he would visit us in the province (where mom and me lived) every weekend. At that time the NLEX was not yet in existence. La Mallorca and Pambusco were the buses then. When I woke up in the morning I would go and look for my pasalubong. He never failed to bring me a pasalubong.

Just now I have this inspiration. When I turn 50 I am going to write my autobiography. I want to write down those memories.