Everything Under The Tropical Sun

The youngest and fairest of us all just celebrated his 20th birthday last Sunday. We had a small gathering at our mom’s place and that was basically it. Great food and great conversations. It’s always wonderful to catch up with everyone.

Though he’s the youngest, sometimes it seems like he’s wiser than most of us… so much so that we take his age forgranted. It doesn’t help that he stands 6-feet tall either. It’s so easy to forget that he’s still young and so very careless. Just when we let our guard down and assume that he’s a responsible adult… he goes and does something stupid. Which is what we all did when we were his age: one stupid act and thought after another.

We don’t take his youth against him. We all understand that these are the things he has to go through to wisen up. Making bad decisions is part of growing up. But compared to my “growth rate” when I was his age, I’d say, he’s growing at a much faster rate. I was a stupid, naive, stubborn, and careless 20 year old. He is smart enough to know what’s right but still lack the self-discipline to actually do it.

He’s easily the most intelligent among us. My favorite story about him was when he was 3 years old… our mom was getting nervous because he still hasn’t spoken a word. No baby talk… No mama or dada or boo boo. Nothing. She even had that thing that connects our tongue to the bottom of our mouths sliced thinking that maybe it was the culprit. Still nothing. Then one day, out of the blue he started talking. No baby talk. Not single words… but whole cohesive sentences.

Can you imagine our shock when this little silent boy opened his mouth and started conversing with us like an adult? It was amazing. I bet he was just watching all of us getting so worked up about him not being able to speak. Smirking and laughing inside, just waiting for the day he’ll reveal his great prank on all of us. Kinda like how he is with us today. He’s just lurking and waiting for us to become ultra worried about him… then one day he’ll just surprise us with a great achievement. I wouldn’t be surpised. I know greatness resides in him.

Happy Birthday, Baby Bro!

It was my mother-in-law’s birthday last Monday but we celebrated it by having dinner last Saturday.

My husband looks more like Mama. They have the same nose and mouth… the shape of their faces are the same… and he got her morena skin tone. A lot of people would still mistake her for his older sister because she’s quite young to be my husband’s mother (she gave birth to him at 19 years old so that makes her 50 years old).

She loves to cook. I could only hope to become as great a cook as her. She’s not protective of her recipes either (like some monster-in-laws I know about). She taught me most of the recipes my husband likes. I can’t quite get them exactly as how she cooks it but I just console myself and say that I’ve put “my twist” in the recipe (which is obviously just an excuse).  He likes it all the same… but if we put the dishes side by side, I know he’d know the difference.

My favorite memory of her was when I first met her. She opened up to me told me that she’s so relieved to have met me and that from my name, she wasn’t sure if I was a girl or a boy. She’s been worried that since her son hasn’t had a girlfriend in over 4 years, that he might have turned gay. She said that there was nothing wrong with it if he was but it did make her feel better that I was a girl and that I was proof that her son didn’t turn gay on her. Imagine that… the first thing that she ever told me when I met her. I guess she was really grateful, huh? She made me feel so welcome right away. I didn’t feel like I had to tip toe around her. She’s awesome!

A happy and fabulous birthday to you, Mama!