IMHO

Spoiled Rotten

I'm told that I "spoil" people - and that's quite the truth, especially when it comes to friends and loved ones near and dear. This long weekend, I finally identified the culprit behind this tendency of mine: my extended family in the provincial setting.

Living in Manila requires constantly looking out for one's self - we only have ourselves and our immediate family to depend upon on a day-to-day basis. But in the province, where life is a lot more laid back and the hours seem to lazily saunter by (as opposed to rushing past at breakneck speed in the metropolis), genuine genteel Filipino-style hospitality is more the norm than the exception. You're spoiled rotten from the moment you wake up - and you awake very slowly, with the happy realization that you don't need to be anywhere particularly important - except perhaps for the heavily-laden breakfast table. More pampering as the day sleepily rolls on: because the family, from all parts of the country and the five continents, is all here, you've got lechon for lunch, dinner, and leftover lechon for tomorrow's breakfast (with matching off-the-chart cholesterol levels; good thing there's always melt-in-the-mouth genuine Ilocano tomato-ey pinakbet to "counter" the toxicity). In a few minutes I will be getting a manicure-pedicure from a lady who does home service (sheer bliss) - for a fraction of the price I'm used to in Manila. I wonder if my uncle's masseur is available today... And then at 5:00 p.m., another party to commemorate my Lolo's waksi (in Tagalog, babang-luksa: the end of the year-long period of mourning). The two most-exclaimed words over this long holiday: mangan manen?! (literally, we're eating again?). Makes me wonder why the heck I'm in so much of a rush to get home later tonight (actually, I've been - very easily - convinced to leave before dawn to make the most of tonight's party time).

I realized today that I spoil people because I've been spoiled, for as long as I remember, by my family, in this manner. For lack of a better way to phrase it, spoiling begets spoiling, just as love - and there's a lot of that going around in this family from Abra - begets love. You just can't help but pass it on. Speaking of which, pass the lechon sauce (if you are geenyoowinely Ilokano, bagoong and kamatis)...and the Norvasc, while you're at it. Again, may I just say: daytoy iti biag!

posted by Honey Oliveros @ 2:05 PM