welcome back tita inday!

welcome back tita inday!
Say cheese and come fly with me!.

10 (mostly large) families minus two gathered yesterday to welcome my canada-based aunt and uncle and two daughters (with son-in-law and grandchild). the last time they visited the country was 19 years ago when my grandfather died.

we were all so overwhelmed with joy with a touch of sadness, starting from when my uncle said the opening prayers and tita inday hugged him and cried for minutes until my uncle said she better stop crying or else, we wont get to eat lunch. :-D

times like these, we enjoy the presence of relatives but also regret the loss of other loved ones. :-( :-( :-( around 3pm, i hung out with the uncles and this musician who's always a guest and designated guitarist at large family gatherings and i introduced myself, saying i was youngest daughter of my father. And he said, ay Inday, sa lahat sa kanilang brothers (9!), i am closest to your dad. we've been friends since we were teenagers. And he told me stories of so long ago and i smiled and smiled but had to bite my lip to keep the tears from flowing. I missed my father so much. :-( :-( :-(

You see, the one big thing i like about my family's reunion is not getting together and chitchat with the girl cousins (I am one of the youngest and there's only a few in my age bracket, tsk tsk), but rather, the Uncles' singing. Of course when my dad was alive he was one of the primary entertainers too. Like me, he was great with lyrics, so everyone will take the cue from him. So yesterday, there i was, while the others had extended lunch, i was waving and swaying to the oldies but the goodies, taking videos and listening and feeling and missing and sipping my own bottle of martini. :-)

i never realized it has been so long since i last attended such an event until I saw all my cousins' children all grown up and taller than me!!! (But they used to be so little!!!) This terror aunt scolded me for my long absence and I told on her to my mom on the phone. But i guess she just missed me :-D It was also only there that I realized I really am Claudette. Hihihi. Coz when one of my cousins said "Tito, si dettedette o." Sinong dette2? Tito, yung youngest nila Tita Jo. Ah si Claudette! Everybody called me Claudette there. Hehehe.
Like I said, it was sad and happy, while I cherished seeing these people again, I can't help but notice that everybody's getting old :-( :-( :-(

but I am so glad that my aunt and uncle still remembered me, I was so sure they didnt know I exist, but they remembered the little girl me. :-) And my cousin who was 14 and couldn't get enough of whitney houston's All at Once when she last visited, remembered and hugged me tight that I just wanted to cry huhuhu right then and there. Her baby son Ethan slept in my arms for 30 minutes and my left arm still aches till now. Her husband Eric(!) is cool too, not shy of this big family but not mayabang either. He was panicking in the beginning coz there were so many names to remember, I told him never mind, I dont remember all the names myself hihihi. He drinks and kept asking me to join the boys but I said I dont drink around relatives. What he didnt know until much later was that I was the sole consumer of the martini bottle and my favorite boy cousin was only too happy to bring out the 2nd one.

yeah i think he's my new favorite male cousin, not only does he have ALL the CDs that i want in the world, but he took a lot of photos and videoclips of me. Hehehe.

The next to the funnest part of the "program" was when my aunt announced that second floor is now ready to be attacked "Get one of each -- shoes, toiletries, canned goods, coffee, linens, stuffed toys, etc. etc." I got a pair of loafers (yey!), more more toiletries, some corned beef (ill never go hungry at home again hehe), and 4 stuffed toys -- a pink dog, velveteeen rabbit, frog, and orange hippo. :-D

The really fun part was hanging out with my cousin Lori - tita inday's younger/est daughter, and my niece denise. I made them sip some of my martini while hanging out, dipping our feet at the pool. I was so tempted to jump in, I sooo wanted to jump in that finally Lori took 3 new swimsuits and we all three jumped in. So now I got a new red swimwear. Yey! Lori said "this is weird, I don't feel like were in the Philippines." Why? What did you expect? "I don't know. It feels like were in LA. And it's so much fun!" They'll be staying for 3 weeks and I intend to show her that we're way fun-ner than L.A. :-) :-) :-)

i think that means to say ill never miss another reunion again. sheesh. i've really come a long way. ;-)