CAGAYAN de Oro used to have only two “towns”: uptown and downtown. Now it has three, with midtown as the new addition. If you’ve been to Dear Joe, that’s where midtown is.
And my youngest bro added one more: intawon.
The family’s sense of humor has helped us survive through the worst of times. It’s the kind of humor that appears out of nowhere and even when it’s most unexpected. Since I’m duh, it may take me a while to get the joke.
How duh am I? Here’s an example. At a coffee shop on Sunday, I was trying to convince the family to eat the bread that came with the smoked ham omelette that I ordered.
Me: Nice kaayo ni nga bread kay naa siyay garlic ug butter.
Niece: So, garlic bread siya, Tita.
Ah, hehe.
This is what I’ve been doing since I became a low-carber and carnivore: giving the bread or rice that goes with my resto order to those who are there with me.
Here’s another random thought during a family lunch:
Bro: Steve Martin and Martin Short are friends.
Sis-in-law: Why can’t Ben Stiller and Ben Affleck be friends?
Bro: And there’s Ben&Ben.
The family’s convo can go on and on from there.
Music is another common denominator in the family. I used to listen to Whitney Houston, Angela Bofill, and Martin Nievera—I even watched his concert then—in the ‘80s while in Manila. And then I came back home and discovered another genre through my two younger bros. That’s why I now love Pearl Jam.
And then one day, isang araw, last year, my 20-year-old niece was singing “Funkytown.”
Lipps Inc.’s “Funkytown” was released in March 1980. That’s 45 years ago. But my niece knows the song, proving that music has no expiration date, it can go on and on much like the family’s sense of humor.
“Fur Elise,” for example, has been around for 158 years. Its composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, died in 1827, but it was published 40 years later in 1867. Mama used to play that on the piano so effortlessly. Too bad smartphones were not around yet at that time, we could have taken lots of videos of her playing the piano.
On the other hand, my younger sis Joan has many videos of her dancing with her batchmates for Lourdes College High School’s “Hali Na Mo” dance contest. Her batch, LCHS 1985, had a threepeat, winning the grand prize for three consecutive years.
Her dancing was the reason I didn’t join my high school batch in the dance contest. So I would be free from prepping for our own performance and could instead focus on waiting for her and her batch’s turn to perform. Yes, I was—and still am—their number one fan.
We are both Jubilarians this year. She would have been dancing with her batchmates again at the Jubilarians’ Night. I don’t know how I can watch them now that she’s gone.
Each time I attend events nowadays, someone always approaches me, introducing themselves as Joan’s friend, classmate, or batchmate. Who has probably heard of me as the strict eldest sister. Hehe.
