Sao Paolo

A dream. It was a kiss. A bliss. And soon it became that first sight of the morning when the first thing that hit my mind was the thought of the storm expected to hit us that day. I jumped out of bed and took my breakfast. (My life had been like that for almost four years now.  Sleep. Eat. Study. Facebook. Eat. Sleep. Meaningless but I have been used to it.) The entire neighborhood understood and by the time I decided to go upstairs I felt the silence that enveloped our home. It was unlikely. Noise—that was one of the things I forgot to mention: Sleep. Eat. Study. Facebook. NOISE. Eat. Sleep. Up to now, I am still fascinated by the fact that the society where I grew up in gave me a miniature model of the Philippines. Just like that, and if by chance you are a Filipino, you definitely know what I mean.

It was ten in the morning when the skies lost its light, and the heavens declared thunder. Soon enough, raindrops started falling but the fear of flood was overpowered by fear of flying rooftops and wind-uprooted trees. As every second consumed every bit of our tranquility, the wind blew stronger and it was then that I realized why it was called the “super typhoon” in the first place.

It was twelve noon and we just had our lunch. I was enjoying green mango slices near the window pane when I saw my neighbors standing outside their houses (despite of the rain and strong wind) focusing their attention to the houses near the hilltop, as if mere spectators, expecting the feeble rooftops to fly away with the horrifying wind. Again, I was amazed. Very much astonished. It was beyond my limited understanding why these people could still manage to stay out of their homes even if they could do so many things to ensure their own family’s security instead of looking at some unfortunate house getting destroyed. Truly Pinoy.

The wind continued to strengthen its blows when my mom decided to take a nap and my sister grew interested at taking short peeks at the window because her childhood crush was one of the “spectators” outside. Dad blurted out his appreciation towards the strong rain and it was then that I realized I still wasn’t able to take a bath yet and it was just in the nick of time when we ran out of electrical and water supply. So there, along with my dad’s adventure-seeking thrill, I marched down the glorious aisle towards meeting this typhoon in person and I saw up-close how it managed to blow away most of the leaves of the many bamboo trees in the neighborhood.

The march was a struggle. It wasn’t easy walking while covering your eyes because together with the strong rain, the falling bamboo leaves were flying towards us, not to mention the unidentified flying particles along with them. I held my dad’s arm so tight and then suddenly, a very cold gush of wind met my face and honestly, it felt like vacuum. A few steps more and we found ourselves at the edge of our subdivision where most of the trees resided and lo! They were all blown up! I could not believe my eyes. HAHA. LOL

Due to its persistence, dad and I decided to take a pause and let the wind pass by. It came into a halt and we ended our journey on the bridge connecting our place with the other junction of the barangay. There was this water flowing beneath the bridge and dad was like saying that the water level did not change.  My curiosity was heightened so I settled near a very tall tree beside the bridge and tried to lean towards it, looking at the underneath. “No dad, it’s way above normal”, I said. As I was concluding my statement, I turned around and felt another overpowering wind but this time, it was with a strong sound, as if a voice which really caused goose bumps. The next thing I knew, the tall tree in front of me got knocked down at it actually felt like cool, but scary; shocking but overwhelming. It was then I realized how powerful the nature is. I felt how easily the life of a strong and sturdy tree can be terminated by just a wink of an eye. POOF! Just like that.

I ran towards my dad and he laughed out loud, teasing me so bad. We decided to take the walk back home but deep inside me, there was a new lesson; there was another story to tell my grandchildren, there was another experience worth sharing. And it was all and because of this storm called Pablo. :’)