June 13, 2022
It is such an amazing day when we hear positive news first thing in the morning. It makes our happy hormones dance in joy and our lips form upside curves from ear to ear. And do you know the positive effect of it? When we share the good news with others, it will make them feel positive as well. I hope it's just easy to spread happy pills to everyone each day. The world probably will be in a happy state, not chaotic.
Three months ago on a drizzling and gloomy day, I got bad news about the possible demolition of our house because of the upcoming river widening project by the government. My father, on the other hand, complained about the money he spent on building his house and the government can't just demolish it because we own the lot. Besides, it's not an ordinary native small house that is easy to rebuild. And the compensation they would give to affected residents wouldn't be enough to build a new house as it would cost an arm and a leg to buy the materials. It made my jar so full of lemonade that I didn't even know how to discard the excess.
Prior to the election in the Philippines, they started the demolition of the houses by the river. That includes my grandmother and other relatives. The affected residents were given a certain amount of compensation which is not even enough to rebuild a new house. The officials also stated that, after the project, affected ones could rebuild a house in the same area.
The bad news is, after the election, the construction team discontinued working leaving debris, shot rocks, and unfinished shoreline construction on both right and left areas of our house. My grandmother's house can not be rebuilt due to this situation. That's the ugly part of Philippine politics. The politicians running for candidacy would implement projects just to get the votes of the people. After the election, they will abandon the projects, lol. I even joked to my mom, "maybe they will finish the project next election," and she just laughed, lol. But that makes sense.
Blurry resolution, it's just a screenshot from our video call
The good news though is that the officials opted to exempt our house. They probably couldn't pay the worth of money we spent on building our concrete house. They need to pay more than a million if they want to demolish our house and my father would certainly not allow it to be ruined without enough compensation. Besides, he already built a seawall behind our house that could protect us from any unexpected flood and landslides. The construction team just needed to extend the seawall my father made.
Speaking of home, my favorite area in our home is of course my room as I could do anything inside. But honestly, I visited our home only on special occasions when I was in the Philippines as I spent most of my days in the city as I needed to work. So my younger sisters would usually use my room when I am away.
I remembered every time I go back home, my mother would prepare a special viand for me. Of course, my little siblings would love it and they are always excited about what present I have in my bag.
They are all grown-ups now, taller than their 'ate'(oldest sister), lol
A memory that makes me smile is when my youngest brother was only seven. He liked taking junk foods and sodas from our mother's store and he doesn't like eating meals as he preferred eating junk foods. One day I tried to dupe him so he would stop eating unhealthy food. "July, stop eating chips and drinking coke. It will create a hole in your tummy." I thought he will be scared and would stop eating.
The next day I tried to stop him again but he just said, "Ate, you're just fooling me. My tummy doesn't have a hole even if I eat chips." That memory always makes me smile. Kids nowadays can not be fooled as they are sometimes even wiser and clever than adults, lol.
A 7-year-old July
July is now 12 years old turning 13 this July 13 (š that's his birthday ), fat and tall young boy. He wants me to buy a tablet for him before, but I guess he wants food more than a tablet now, lol. During one of our conversations, I was teasing him and asking if he's gay because my mother said he often acted like a gay and even likes her older sister putting colors on his face. Look at his expression to his older sister sitting next to him because we both were teasing him that day.
Photo from one of our video calls
He isn't a baby boy anymore and I missed those younger times when we were playing with my other little siblings. I remember those days he really talked and walked like a gay and I know there was a possibility that he would become gay when he grow up. And I guess, he's showing some gay symptoms(š ) now. I want him to be a man though, a real man, because we already have a gay in our family, lol.
Reminiscing the good old days with my family really makes me smile. My life may be tough, but I become tougher because of them. Someday, we will meet again. I missed our home sweet home.
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