Today is my Dad’s birthday.
We just got back from the farm. My Dad, my Brother, my Uncle, and my Cousin’s husband Lao.
I’ve been unable to calm my mind because I want to show my brother everything I learned during my last trip here in 2006. I know it’s unfair to pack 3 months of stuff into 15 days so I’m trying to remember and present the highlights. I want this trip to be unlike the other boring, dull ones he’s had in the past. I want him to see that he is as much a part of this place as all of those who had come before him.
I’m riding a tenuous line between pushing it all onto him in the hope he’ll arrive at the same affection I have for this country and letting him come to whatever conclusion he decides on his own.
We just came back from one of our Grandfather’s farms. He has three of them and now that he has passed away the farms are now ours.
If you could see my brother as he walked the beautiful expanse of green field under the blue sky of a typical Philippines summer you would see that the affection I wondered about has certainly taken hold of him.
He marvelled at the number of coconut trees we have and was surprised to see all the banana trees growing on our land. We have jackfruit (lanka) trees that amazed him and mango trees that really made an impression.
He looked at our rice fields and asked about the yield and did the math in his head and wondered, like we all do, if this place can give us more.
I talked about mahogany trees that Dad and I planted in 2006 and told him how they would be ready when we retire.
We met the people working on our land and wondered how this tiny group of people can realize the potential of our farm.
My Brother kept taking pictures of everything he saw. I could tell this wonderful place has mad a home in his heart.
He asked me questions about the land and the life here and I was able to answer many of them (proudly) because I had asked the same questions of our Dad last time.
In about an hour, a friend of Lao’s will be dropping off two tri-mobiles. A tri-mobile is a motorcycle with a sidecar attached that is used as a public form of transportation. I’m going to pay him for use of the tri-mobiles so my brother and I can take our Dad and Uncle to Naga to run errands.
Going to Naga from Libmanan is a beautiful 40 minute ride through the Philippines landscape. It’s all green and lush and we get to peek into people’s lives as we ride by.
I told Santos that the best idea he ever had was making me take those motorcycle lessons last year. I never thought we’d use that skill to take our Dad and our Uncle from their hometown to Naga. My Dad smiled at the thought of that plan… and my Dad’s smiles these days are the most precious thing I have.
Just think, it’s not even noon yet and we still have a birthday party to throw tonight; and pool time this afternoon…
We go back to Manila in a couple of days. But in the meantime I asked my Dad if we can hire a lancha (long motorboat) for a couple of hours so we can take my Brother up the Libmanan River to really immerse him in the beauty of our country. We’ll be doing that tomorrow at sunrise.
It’s been slowly coming but the trip so far is unfolding in ways that I had hoped… and next week we’ll be looking at Victoria Harbor from our hotel room on Hong Kong island.
I only wish, as I always do, that I could find more time to spend with our Dad and Mom.
