It is quiet around the house these days. My parents left over the weekend and went back home to Manila, all the party clutter from a few weeks ago have slowly been washed, tucked, folded and kept and the house that withstood the tornadic wind of dinner parties and delivery boxes, premium outlet shopping bags, and a deluge of toys - is still standing.
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| Breakfast for one. The cup that always makes my day. |
And what had been months and weeks of preparing breakfast for six, is now breakfast for two. Mandarin and me. Somehow, I do enjoy the quiet moments and I am thankful for the bouts of clarity that come with it, but then on other days it is the very same air of quiet that poses as the frenemy of an idle and vulnerable mind. I allow these emotions to filter through me with almost porous intent because I’ve learned that barricading them, brushing them off as insignificant, leads to major emotional backlog.
It was probably one of the most difficult goodbyes I’ve had, crying spells and all that jazz. All the more because of the time my parents spent with Mandarin. And I ache every time I am brought to the reality of how far we live apart, from my parents and my husband’s parents - so I tell myself - that’s just the way it is. C’est la vie. We’re here now and we’ll just have to make the most of out what we have. And be happy while we’re at it!
So, moving forward we took a break on Sunday and spent some much needed time with the family we are grateful to have here - cousins and a brother. An afternoon of burgers and BBQ and a petting zoo for kids was the perfect relief to a hot day.
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| Britney? Gimme Gimme... |
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| Befriending a Tortoise and what she would probably ask Santa for Christmas. |
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| Or maybe she'd like a pony! |
On our way home I noticed The maple leaves of our tree out front, on cue, has started changing color. It’s leaves were fringed with ochre tones as if sometime when we were all asleep the autumn hands of this season’s turning came and magically combed through it’s foliage. We welcome this change and in fact even look forward to it.
A few days before my mother flew back, I placed my vintage (handkerchief) bunting across the Balinese divider that we put up against a stark white wall. I asked her how it looked and wasn’t too happy with the faint whisper of disapproval she let out, which she followed through with “is it a fiesta?“ through a smile and a jaunty “but if makes you happy seeing it there....”
Well.
It makes me happy seeing it there. It’s like a smile that flashes every time we enter the living room and although it might be a decorating disaster to do so, I find that it brightens up the room. And yes, it is fairly festive in here but only because there is always something to celebrate; especially in the minutia of things.
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| There's always something to celebrate. |
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| The sense of wonder that we all should never lose. |
That’s me making the most out of it.
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