My Dad's 79th Birthday

My dad celebrated his 79^th birthday last night where we had a small family party because the estranged wife of my eldest brother was in the country with her son Clifford they have been living in Australia for quite sometime and do come to the country for visits. My other brother who lives in Busay was also in the house with his family. The food that was prepared for the dinner was Humba, Pancit Sotanghon Guisado, Lechon baboy, Lechon Manok, Lambay, Beef Steak Pinoy Style, Chop Suey, Fruit Salad, chiffon cakes, and lumpia shanghai. The visitors were mostly from family and friends from Australia and Cebu. Well anyway, I really had a very bad case of tonsils that I could hardly eat, our visitors also brought along a special pancit named Palabok from red ribbon. It was just a very small party and We just got to talk with some of our childhood neighbors (arlene, ronnie, siblings of ate ningning) where we used to live before in Highway, Mandaue City in Maguikay)…My sister-in-law with her brothers and sisters and nephews and nieces were our visitors…Although my sister-in-law separated from my brother for some years now they have always been our family friends and no matter what happened between them is long been regarded as history…our relationship with her was always there…She is a part of our family in spite of what has transpired…it brings back memories of one’s innocence and childhood…how times have come to passed…how the years have separated us…once we were teenagers in puberty…now we have grown to have families of our own…nephews and nieces, sister in laws…brother in laws…30 years ago we could not have known…I guess its like that when you meet old family and childhood friends or high school friends… you immediately can smile and remember the good feeling of reminiscing old memories…too much memories spend with them that you could never know where to begin to talk because of your common experiences…time stood still each time such eras or spaces in one life time is frozen and brought back when you see old friends or family…I got my cell phone and called my brother in Manila…When he answered I said ”Hello Kuya This is Eddie…Your son’s here at the house do you want to talk to him? Sure! So I just passed the phone to my nephew and told him its your dad…so they talk for quite sometime…I just went around and talk with the other guests…I guess it’s the least I could do to let a father and son talk with each other…They have long been separated also since my sister in law brought their son to Australia also … my nephew is the eldest son of my brother…although he does have another family now with four other children from another wife of some previous years…it does makes my nephew a little confuse as to who’s who or who’s the son of who because he lives out of the country…He, my nephew also brought along a digital camera and was taking pictures of everyone at the party…He's carrying our family name and I could feel that each time that he gets to be with us who have the same family name…he really feels at home and could relate to his family tree that I’m with Family…I guess no matter where we may be in this part of the world…we always look back to where we come from…our roots…our family…it gives meaning and life to our existence in this world…I could always remember what my mother who has passed away for quite some time use to tell us brothers “Remember those times that you spend with each other whether you were fighting or playing because when you all will have grown up you will be living separate lives and will be far away from each other…so make the best of those times when you are still young and together as a family these bonds are the only one that will be left once you have all gone your separate ways.” My mom was angry at us brothers during those times that she is trying her best to referee fights and misunderstanding between and among brothers and during those days we never understood how true and correct her words to us will ever be…it was for us to find out once we have grown apart from each other…When I talked with my Ate NingNing I Told her You'll be going back to Australia by Jan. 20, anyway ate you'll be back naman every year to the country diba...but she whispered that hopefully because at her age she is sick with cancer of the cervix and thyroid...for both sickness she is getting medical treatment...when I heard these words I couldn't help not to be speechless...what could you say to somebody you care about even though you're physically far apart from them that they have cancer? I just told her don't loose hope...we'll still see each other again next year...I just couldn't bear the thought that it could be the last time that I'll be spending a moment with her...life does bring about a series of events that one could never tell where it would lead to...