AMoores

Last night I cooked garlic fried chicken wings, fried tilapia, spaghetti and showpeas with yellow peppers for dinner. I cooked it pretty fast, too. Considering I got home at six, we were ready to eat by 7:30. Right when I called, “dinner’s ready” and everyone was milling around the kitchen getting their plates, the power goes out!

There was still a bit of light outside so we opened the window for light and went searching for flashlights and candles. Usually by the time we get find the flashlights the power switches back on. But not last night. So we got comfortable and settled down for a candle lit dinner. The Clone thought it was a swell idea. Even called it romantic.

Well, it was…. a swell idea.

We ate, fully expecting the lights to back on after dinner. But no, still no light after dinner. So we sat/laid around and just talked. No computers, no TV, no phone, no interruptions. Just us, talking the night away…. in the dark.

That was… romantic.

One trend in Philippine society, because of its lagging economy, is for its people to seek employment abroad. The government boasts that its greatest resource is its people. The income generated by OFWs, Overseas Foreign Workers, is said to account for a sizable percentage of the national income. Not only do the worker’s families benefit from the income earned abroad, but the nation’s economy is boosted because of this.

So mothers and fathers leave their children behind in order to give them a better future. My parents were among the millions who have been doing this for generations. My father left to work overseas the very same day that my youngest sister was born. He barely caught a glimpse of her before running off to catch his flight. This is the only way he could have supported a family of three children. His civil servant position did not pay enough to support us. He knew that.

A few years later, his contract over, he returns home to find his youngest child afraid of him. It took her a while to warm up to the father she didn’t recognize, and it broke his heart.
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Sometimes days go by and I am oblivious what day of the week or month it is. I mean I know whether it’s a Monday or a Tuesday, or if the 5th or the 15th, but I don’t always remember significance of certain days. The significance of my days involves what I have to do to meet a deadline at work or what bill is about to come due or what projects the girls have due for school or what activity they have coming up.

This morning I woke up to kisses, which, though I wish I could say is an everyday ritual, is unusual. I got kissed and wished a Happy Anniversary!!! Today, we have been married for 16 years. 16 years!!

I love you, after all these years……

and yes, I still get butterflies in my tummy when you kiss me.

The Clone’s birthday just passed. We celebrated it by going the the N.C. State Fair, just the two of us. It was a girls’ date, just mom and the clone, no dad, no sisters tagging along. We had a great time!

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