by Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
The Face to Face Encounter after Covid
On May 1, the feast of St. Joseph, the Worder, the besties and bffs had a beautiful face to face meeting after 2 years of waiting.
Indeed, two (2) years of not seeing each other is such a long time. Maayo na lang pud kay niay FB and messenger for chatchat. But the use of gadgets to take the place of a face to face conversation is never enough. Dili man ta ka maka buhakhak ug katawa. Lahi gyud.
So on May 1, we, the besties and the bffs met again. We are all septuagenarians, except my bff Ardy. At our age, it is easier to remember things long past, rather than experiences of recent events. I tell you – our simple joys of recalling the growing up years in our hometown make our life happier.
We love to recall how we played siato, tubigtubig bikabika. We did not need more than 5 centavos to enjoy what was there to be happy about. Singko sentabos ra man gyud among bawon matag adlaw kaniadto: 2 centabos alang sa monggos ug 3 centabos alang sa piniritong saging ug kulo. Kulo is breadfruit and are very rare nowadays.
We, who met last May 1, are all products of the public schools for our elementary education. We went to school wearing the bakya. But we didn’t completely wore our bakya to school because we carried the pair from home until we were near our school. We were afraid that always wearing the bakya might easily destroy the footwear. Mahadlok mi nga ug kanunay namo nga isul-ob ang bakya, dali unya kini nga mahilis ug maguba. Mao to nga bitbiton ni namo gikan sa balay ug unya na ni namo isul-ob kung duol na mi sa among tulunghaan. Bahala na ug ang among tiil ang magka pandol-pandol basta dili ang among bakya. Worn later than the bakya was the pair of smuggles – when we were in the teenage period – kadtong hapit na mi madalaga.
Every Saturday, when we were young, we had assigned chores to be done at home. We didn’t worry about uniforms during our elementary days since we were not told to wear the uniforms yet. Every Saturday, when there were no classes, we had to do the laundry. Aside from the laundry, we had to do other things: manguha mi ug baliongan ug bokong aron isugnod; manguha pa mi ug.lukay kon dunay mahulog gikan sa lubi. Ang lukay maoy among gamiton para idumalig – to build the fire as we cooked our food. Akong mahinumduman, when we were young, nga among daginuton ang tanan – for the rainy days.
A day is never enough talking about our yesteryears. And that day on May 1, 2022 – at Nito and Flor Cimafranca’s residence along Palma St. in Tagbilaran City – the hours seemed very short to reminisce what went through during the two (2) years of pandemic when we did not see (literally) one other. We just lived approximately 3 kilometers away from one another — bff Ardy lives in Dauis while bff Flor lives in Tagbilaran and I stay in Baclayon. But, like what I said, we were very obedient to the laws as we practiced social distancing for two (2) solid years.
The pandemic made the cellphone an irreplaceable gadget. Makatapulan gyud ang cellphone, labi na gyud sa mga kabataan ug kabatan-unan. They sleep late due to the cellphone as they play with this gadget until the wee hours of the morning. Maghagok pa gud na sila bisan ug hayag na ang adlaw. Mura ba ug wala na gyud sila’y lain nga mahimo: cellphone – tulog – cellphone – duwa – cellphone – tulog – cellphone na pod. I am just happy that my daughter, Irene, still practices the rule of the house to have our meals together.
I hope when school is back to normal, things will be easier for parents and children when there would be less dependence on gadgets and when there would be focus on what Mother Nature is providing us with. As what my Oyang Tiva told us, “Kinahanglan mag-una gyud mo ug bakud sa adlaw aron muaskil inyong lawas.”
So, we have to be earlier than sunlight on election day – May 9. See you in your respective precincts. The future of the country is in our hands.