That Home*

Even Google knows I am home!

Mother's Day 2014
At home, Pasig, Philippines


The fifteen months that passed felt like a dream once I smelled and felt the humid air of Manila.

Things look a lot darker, with more clutter here at home. Honestly, I felt bad I had allowed myself and my family to believe we are living in a better condition.

Yet, waking up to the familiar music my Tatay (father) makes when he's asleep (otherwise known as 'snoring,' which was lullaby to me last night) and snuggling with my Nanay (mother), I knew this is so much better than waking up alone in a cold, dark morning in Wellington. No matter how chaotic and 'underdeveloped' this abode looks to me now, this is home.

This is who I am: a daughter of a middle-class Filipino family who finds riches in her relationship with her loved ones. This is my wealth: the bits and pieces of what may seem like rubbish to the developed world - for this signifies we are slowly putting things together and that we make sense of the small things that we have. This is my world: of mango trees all in full-bloom, the chirping of the birds, and the crowing of the rooster - for that means a long day of hard work is about to start.

As the sun breaks in against the ashy sky at 5:30 in the morning, I am convinced that the sun does shine brighter - in all the sense of the phrase - in this part of the world I call 'home.'

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*Inspired by a song of the same title, (C) 2013 Newsboys, Inc. under exclusive license to Sparrow Records