Home Sweet Home

"There's a place called home, I can almost see, with a red front door and a roaring fire, and a Christmas tree..."

Coming home is always such an exciting event. You get to see your loved ones once again. Their smiling faces, their laughters, their antics and the never ending talks you will have.

A month won't suffice and soon you'll be leaving again. But making the most of it is what matters really. Since I arrived almost a week ago, I hardly went out. I just bum around, sleep, eat, play with my nephews and nieces, sometimes amuse myself just watching them, grown up and all.

Watch my Mama, wrinkled and old, but seeing her alive and active again cause I am here, makes my heart sigh. Every cigarette she puffed I know shortens her life span, but it makes her happy. I would like to see her happy, nonetheless.

I told myself I'd be the big brother and scold my two brothers about their misbehaviors but I can't seem to do it. Watching them now, as grown up men, fully capable of making decisions in their lives, I dismissed the idea, and just be there listening to their stories and what's going on in their simple yet complicated lives, is enough for me.

My youngest sister, and her small family, still hoping that someday, she'd have a better life, not that the current one is not, you know, she's still young, married young, still full of hopes and dreams. If only I have a magic wand, I'd grant her every wish.

Feeling my family all around me, such love, such devotion, such abundance of life overwhelms. We all have come a long way, we all have endured the tests of time, and I know my family will still endure life altogether.

I had my birthday, I have no other guest except for my family, I planned to, hope my dear, dear friends forgive me, but I suddenly felt like celelbrating it with just my family. I didn't say I enjoyed it 100% for there are things you can only talk about with friends, but I had a wonderful time.

Families come and go. We each have our own lives to live, our own paths to pursue, but in our heart of hearts, no matter where we are, there's always that special place called home. The old adage, there's no place like home, always matters. It's where we always belong. Home.

"Just a place called home, full of love and family, and I am there at the door, watching you come home to me..."