After the kimchi rice, we had a bit of passeggiata at Naga's boardwalk. Lights after a rainy night. This isn't the first time I mentioned the City of Naga on Hive. It's one of the most accessible parks close to our town of Minglanilla and our favorite go-to.
It has changed so much that I can hardly recognize it compared to the memories I used to have here when I was younger.
When I was 17, me and my high school friend almost got caught during curfew hours, taking turns on a bottle of brandy (Generoso, at the time. Yes, I'm that old) near the baywalk. The place was simpler then, quiet and unassuming.
Three years later, at 20, I returned to Naga just as they started making major developments in the area. I never imagined it would grow into what it is now. I remember staring at the moon in awe, clear skies and all, the lunar eclipse in full view. Others around me didn't even notice, but I was there, intoxicated, as my then-girlfriend broke up with me minutes earlier. I was too mesmerized to even cry.
When the eclipse shadow got past the moon and it's back to its full glory, I remember chugging my Red Horse and forcing myself to cry (but can't because my ADHD brain still processing the eclipse).
Teary-eyed, I laughed a bit because I can't even fake a drama just to grieve my heart out.
There was a dental clinic near the plaza that somehow gave me enough trauma to fear dentists for years. It took one irreversible tooth decay before I finally visited a new dentist and had it extracted. I guess this was the worst memory I have of Naga, worse than the heartbreak!
A lot of bittersweet memories linger here. Friends I haven’t seen in years once shared this place with me. Sometimes I try to match what I see now with what I remember, but the connection slips away. The city has grown into something almost unrecognizable, and the old moments feel faint beside all this change.
I’ve always been someone who looks back too fondly, yet this time I don’t mind. I love what this part of the city has become. I’m building new memories with my family now, surrounded by faces that feel both familiar and new, shaping a life that belongs to the present.
Words fall short in capturing its grandness. The pavements feel wider, the baywalk brighter, the lights warmer against the night air. Even the people around me seem like gentle strangers from a story I’ve yet to know. It feels like stepping into another version of the same world... a new place, a new life. A different me.