The Bernarte family, all just woke up and already getting ready for the next "stroll".
I adore surprises. Last year April 2008, I and my siblings decided to go back to Philippines to have a family reunion. The original schedule was July and our parents were fully aware of the date. Due to airfare high and low seasons, we decided to make it earlier. My sis and her family from US were coming back 29 May and we were to come 31 May. We planned to surprise our parents. My brothers and sister in the Philippines started fixing bits and pieces for the reunion. They tried to do it quietly so my parents won't suspect anything. While they were quietly preparing in the Philippines, we were also preparing something in PNG. Our idea was my siblings and kids will pick us up from the airport in Manila and on our way to our hometown in Laguna we'll teach the kids some Christmas songs. We will then proceed to the family house. This will surprise them. We were imagining, in the middle of night of May 31, we'll sing carols in front of our parents' house. They will be thinking "what the...carolling in May"? As soon as they open their door, they will see us and their grandchildren serenading them, we're home!!!-what a perfect plan! This is something important because we never had the chance to spend Christmas together with our parents.
Surprises, surprises. Everybody got very excited that my brother, Alvin, overdid decorating the house. My dad who was totally uninformed about what was happenning was annoyed by my brother's enthusiasm. My dad was already 68 years old that time. He was very sensitive, he still is. He felt like he is not anymore important. That people does something in the house without consulting him. Alvin's excitedness created some misunderstanding and my mom felt very bad that she couldn't breath and had to be rushed to the hospital. My brother, Alvin, was telling us the story. She was having chest pain. He did not know what to do. He then told her in the hospital, with permission from my sis Mia, that my mom has to get well very soon because we were going to come home. She said, in tears, she knew that we were coming in July and was very sad that these things were happening. Alvin then said, "Hindi, nay, padating na sila sa isang araw" (No, mom, they are coming in 2 days). That was why he was trying to quickly fix the garden so that it will look good before we come back. My mom was so surprised and all her pain's suddenly gone. She said she's suddenly feeling better and they better get home quickly. The problem then was my dad, he will feel that he was left out again, being the only one who didn't know we were coming earlier than scheduled. They had a meeting and decided to let him know. They were able to tell him without making him feel unhappy. Our months of keeping the secret was spilled out. No more secrets.
Leng was scheduled to come 2 days earlier. When the incident happen, they were already in Tokyo. It was too late for us to advice her that the "play" was cancelled. When they landed NAIA, they were the ones surprised to see my parents were at airport to fetch them. And after 2 days, they all fetched us at the airport (with airport escorts courtesy of my sis, Mia). No more surprises but we were all happy that we were able to make it - be back in the Philippines all at the same time. In one of our outings, the kids were still able to sing the christmas songs. We never know when we can do this again. As for my dad, we blamed him for the unaccomplishment of the "surprise" that we prepared. And from that time on, he became very considerate. Knowing that he is very special for us. That he is left out most of the time not because we think he is useless, but because we always want to please him and my mom with surprises.
Surprises, surprises. Everybody got very excited that my brother, Alvin, overdid decorating the house. My dad who was totally uninformed about what was happenning was annoyed by my brother's enthusiasm. My dad was already 68 years old that time. He was very sensitive, he still is. He felt like he is not anymore important. That people does something in the house without consulting him. Alvin's excitedness created some misunderstanding and my mom felt very bad that she couldn't breath and had to be rushed to the hospital. My brother, Alvin, was telling us the story. She was having chest pain. He did not know what to do. He then told her in the hospital, with permission from my sis Mia, that my mom has to get well very soon because we were going to come home. She said, in tears, she knew that we were coming in July and was very sad that these things were happening. Alvin then said, "Hindi, nay, padating na sila sa isang araw" (No, mom, they are coming in 2 days). That was why he was trying to quickly fix the garden so that it will look good before we come back. My mom was so surprised and all her pain's suddenly gone. She said she's suddenly feeling better and they better get home quickly. The problem then was my dad, he will feel that he was left out again, being the only one who didn't know we were coming earlier than scheduled. They had a meeting and decided to let him know. They were able to tell him without making him feel unhappy. Our months of keeping the secret was spilled out. No more secrets.
Leng was scheduled to come 2 days earlier. When the incident happen, they were already in Tokyo. It was too late for us to advice her that the "play" was cancelled. When they landed NAIA, they were the ones surprised to see my parents were at airport to fetch them. And after 2 days, they all fetched us at the airport (with airport escorts courtesy of my sis, Mia). No more surprises but we were all happy that we were able to make it - be back in the Philippines all at the same time. In one of our outings, the kids were still able to sing the christmas songs. We never know when we can do this again. As for my dad, we blamed him for the unaccomplishment of the "surprise" that we prepared. And from that time on, he became very considerate. Knowing that he is very special for us. That he is left out most of the time not because we think he is useless, but because we always want to please him and my mom with surprises.
The kids were still able to perform their Christmas carols for their grandparents,
titos and titas on Father's day at MOA. 
No comments:
Post a Comment