"The Childhood Memories Of A Filipino Man"

There is something about growing up that makes you yearn for the simplicity of your childhood. Maybe it is the ease of decision making or the difference of what money can buy. When you’re a child, you can make decisions by using the “eenie meenie miney moe” or “one potato, two potato” method. If everything were as easy these methods, life would be less stressful. When things get tough, these are the moments when we start missing our happy childhood memories.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are the summers I spent in my Grandparents’ (Lolo and Lola) family summer home in our province. My Lolo and Lola had a nice and elegant house. Upstairs there were five bedrooms and three full baths. In four bedrooms there were two full-size beds and in the other were three sets of bunk beds. My cousins and I would stay in the room with the bunk beds. We would jump off the beds, do pillow fights, and play board games until midnight. My two slightly older cousins and I were the three musketeers. We did everything together. Sometimes, we would sleep in our sleeping bags on the floor of the living room or out on the front porch. I loved the weekends. It felt like camping. Sometimes my Dad would come join us. I thought that was great. Little did I know then, my parents were going through a separation. I get it now, but back then I thought that my Dad just wanted to hang out with me.

My Grandparents had a big backyard and big swimming pool. Growing up in the province, there weren’t many in ground pools unless you were wealthy. I can say that our family belongs to a well-off family. I can say that we are fortunate when it comes to financial aspect. We are moderately rich, we experienced a comfortable life and even wealthy by some standards. We spent many hot summer days and nights lounging and splashing about in that pool.

My Mom, Aunt, and Lola would relax themselves in the metal and plastic lounge chairs smothered in baby oil in the hot baking sun. They did reminisce and talk about stories from the past. How my mom was the spoiled brat in the family and how my Aunt was nicest and most obedient daughter in the family. They would talk about my two Uncles who were abroad that time. My Lola talked about how my Lolo courted her and she would always be snobby and ignores him. She likes to reminisce like everything was just yesterday. We never got tired of these stories. My cousins and I would swim and play the day away in the heavily chlorine-filled pool. And since it’s very hot in the Philippines, we always got sun burn which made our moms really angry. But we never cared.

Around noon, we would be called out of the water to eat our lunch which was most likely rice, barbeque, and adobo. Because we weren’t allowed to go back in the water due to the thirty minute rule and all, my Lola always liked to tell us old stories from her childhood. Then it was back to the pool to play in the cold water the whole afternoon.

After dinner, we took some quick shower, put on our cute pajamas and drank our milk. Lola knocked on our door and say goodnight. But we never let her go until she tells us horror stories. We were all scared and shaking, but we never let her stop. Funny how we got scared and still, we want it for our bedtime story.

I guess I learned family values and what family can really mean during those summer months. The rest of the year, our lives were so busy with school, sports, dancing, writing lectures, making projects and school friends. During summers, it was all about our family. As kids, we slowly appreciated and learned the importance of our family values. That even though we annoyed one another, we were still each other's protection and looked out for one another. And even now that were adults with our own families and have busy lives, we still find time to get together and share the same values from our past. In our life, our childhood memories are one of the most sweetest and unforgettable experience. It was simple and very childish compared to what we have right now. But one thing is for sure. There are lots of times that we want to trade things that we have right now, just to back to those sweet memories of our past. For me, those memories are one of my biggest treasures in life.