Old Times

         Our family has survived almost 4 decades of distant past, with God's grace, and still be surviving in the future years.

       Here is a photo of us, four siblings, in a place we considered our own.  (Credits to my brother Eric for restoring this photo).  
      As I take a look at the photo, I remembered how simple and happy as a child our life has been, living in a 2-story wooden house, with pandan serving as our gate, the carabao grass our lawn, with trees everywhere and several banana plants around. The wide grassland around us served as our playground, with games such as hide and seek, baseball, pitiw, luksong tinik, habulan, football, basketball, we played guns out of banana stalk or wooden guns with aratilis as pellets, we played bahay-bahayan with my brother older Alvin building our house made of banana or gabi leaves, we climb trees and even the swamp as our swimming pool.
        A lot of childhood memories were etched in my mind in our house: my fly-out- the-window experience, my 6-stitches wound on my right leg, my brother's open wound on the skull, my brothers' fishing expeditions, my younger brother and my lakwatsa around the neighborhood, my older brother's booming basketball career and our nightly view of WWE matches via our neighbor's television (few houses away from us).  
       Until Diversion Road (Benigno Aquino Highway) was constructed, which also served as our free-willy-slide-down-the-hill game and wall climbing facility near the river bank.
       Cuartero-Diversion Road is where we grow up physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually at Highway Evangelical Church.  Our church has permanently moved a block away from its original location and since the expansion of the highway is on-going, we are also moving!   Whether in a low-cost relocation site or a high-cost town house, we are leaving our house in the next few weeks!
       Just like old times, we will survive and make meaningful memories as we move on, (just like my sister and her family and my younger brother and his family), with God's goodness.  Memories or making memories may not be always joyful, some are sorrowful and burdensome, but still we carry on, just like old times!