Youngblood
Back home
By Phoebe Amor Monreal-Almeda
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:45:00 01/15/2009
Filed Under: Human Interest
My arms, face, neck and back were itching from the sunburn I got after staying under the sun longer than the quick dips I took, but what can I do?
The day was perfect, as perfect as a warm summer day, and just the perfect time for snorkeling and swimming with fishes. The sea, Macajalar Bay, only three houses away from ours was beckoning to me. So with swimming goggles in hand I heeded the call.
Before I could jump into the clear water, the children whom I didn’t notice following me began befriending me. After a brief conversation, there I was swimming and playing with kids less than half my age. Playing chase, listening as they argued over who was the fastest swimmer or who got to throw the bottle for chasing after, laughing at some quirky thing someone just did, answering questions, disturbing the peace of the various colorful fishes in their homes, and checking out the clumps of corals we didn’t usually dare check on our own.
We played the same games my brothers and I and the rest of the neighborhood kids, all grown-up now, used to play in the same spot we picked for our swimming hole, in the same hole where I learned to swim as a kid. I was laughing as heartily as I never had in a long while and had so much fun without fear of nasty hangover the morning after. I stayed longer than I thought I would, not caring if I didn’t to put Sunblock on; anyway, like these kids, I didn’t use Sunblock as a kid or cared if I got as dark as the next kid who enjoyed the sun and sea as much. Nobody wanted to go home early; we all stayed and played until their parents came to tell them to go home since it was way past lunchtime and we didn’t notice it at all. But unlike many summers ago, this time nobody came calling for me.
Other times you can find me beachcombing for seashells, bits of glasses and other stuff such as a piece of sun-dried human spine, or watching the sun take her bath for the day, or sitting by the seawall under the full moon and talking with my younger brother, making up stories about the faraway mists crawling in the horizon as the waves lazily slap the shore, or watching amazed at the hundreds of lamps from catamarans off shore as the fishermen cast their nets for the fish in season, or reading a book, or writing in my journal, or stargazing in our backyard, or just sitting back and feeling the zephyr sweep through my face. After all, I have all the time in the world to do all these things.
Right now I am penniless and jobless. I quit my call center job, my first job, seven months ago, after a year of total financial and personal freedom. The money was good, the job was quite easy and the working environment was cooler than college. People thought I was stupid for letting go of a job almost everybody wanted. I can’t blame them; a year ago I would have said exactly the same thing. I jumped at the first opportunity to get that job, eager to get ahead in the game because I was afraid the world would pass me by and thinking that with all the money I was going to earn I would be able to buy all the toys I had wanted since college. I thought the job would be for keeps. But I was wrong. I quit, anyway; the job just wasn’t for me, I guess.
Now here I am back in the small town I grew up in, breathing the same salty air I have been breathing since I care to remember and back at my parents’ mercy. I have no regrets and I am taking my time. I am just thankful for each moment I can stand still and watch the different birds congregating on the tree they seem to be very fond of in front of our house.
Before long, I will be going back to getting busy playing adult and “getting a life” but this time, I promise, it will be different. When I get a new job, money will no longer be the sole reason for accepting it. I don’t care if I don’t make as much money as before as long as the job is something I can be passionate about, as long as I grow and learn along the way, and most especially, as long as it is something I can set aside at times just, so that I can lie on my back and look at the stars on a moonless night or go swimming with fishes on a lazy day. For now though, I am watching the world pass me by, with a smile on my face and a fishing line in my hand.
Phoebe Amor Monreal-Almeda, 23, graduated from Bukidnon State University with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education.
|
