The year was 1989. Life was simple. It’s all about the basics.
Apple was only a fruit to many. OFW were just letters.
Wellness was not the “in” thing yet because
people know how to eat right. Everybody knows everybody in my old town
and they talk to each other (real time and touchable). People help each other.
Kindness is contagious. My childhood, oh my childhood days…
my kababata will love this…
Sources of nourishment:
Chocnut bars (better known as Chocobot), Pom Poms, Zeb Zeb,
lechon manok/baka (monosodium glutamate-rich and false meat-flavored chips), iced candy, tira-tira (pinoy toffee), saging con yelo, sago’t gulaman a.k.a samalamig, mangga/singkamas slices on stick with the ultimate bagoong, turon (banana fritters), banana/kamote-que, tubo (sugar cane stalks), adik (pastillas-like bar. I don’t really know who and how it got its name), Bazooka (loud pink gum in very ingenious wrapper with comics strip), Pritos Ring, Chippy, halo-halo, home cooked alas-tres merienda, taho, binatog, mais, yakult, kornik and butong pakwan, sorbetes.
Sources of fun and laughter:
Piko (hopscotch), tagu-taguan (hide and seek—forever!), Nintendo, Game and Watch, moro-moro/ agawang base, patintero, shato, mataya-taya, ocho-ocho, Chinese garter, ten-twenty, langit-lupa, bato-batopik (rock-paper-scissors), nanay-tatay (gusto kong tinapay), sungka, goma, pick-up-sticks, teks (character cards trade), lutu-lutuan, biking during hot summer days (skipping nap time with take home broken elbows or bruised knees), catching tadpoles during rainy days, shadow play during brown outs, watching Batibot, playing sand and mud (turning them into traps when bored), making homemade clay dough, paperdolls and puzzles (creatively self-made), bubbles (self-made using The Standard Gumamela and Soap Concoction), climbing up the mango/aratilis tree, chasing butterflies, catching dragonflies (there’s a technique to catch the prey without breaking its wings).
Was it really simple?
Life is a gift that we unwrap each day.
:-)
