Tag: relationships

After making me park my car in the middle of the garage, I stepped inside the boy’s house after almost one year of pissing off and noticed the inside is mostly the girl’s furniture pieces and little decoration of Sanrio-like piece. Only the religious statues of crucifix, mother and son atop the fireplace mantel and the boy’s double-picture of his parents remain as reminders of whose money the down-payment went towards the house. The floor was cold to my feet and through my socks because they won’t allow shoes indoors. I regret to ever set foot at that place.

Today has been mostly gray clouds and rainy! Our day started out getting ready to visit old granny in the nursing home. Then we decided to go get some food from Goldilocks – mocha cake for around $18.00, 50 pieces of puto (ube and plain), and a basket of goodies (brownies, cookies, candies, etc.) for the staff taking care of granny.

Last minute, we decided to get a corsage for her birthday and I thought about Conroy’s Flowers (off McKee Rd.) They don’t have a ready-made corsage and a special appointment must be made with the designer. So Paw and I opted for two yellow carnations with a sprig of white flowers as a backdrop. The girl working there was kind enough to wrap the two branches (for $1.29) in green tape, cut the stems and provide a pin. Maw wanted roses! Blah!

Just as we were parked at the place, the twosome came for I could hear the loudness of his Ford mustang. The girl seemed tired but brought a small bouquet of flowers. The boy was teasing as usual and brought his card, which I taped underneath the light located underneath the old lady’s bedroom.

Maw and I managed the squeeze old granny into her red outfit of red, double knit top with high collar and a 3/4 sleeved jacket with one big red button in the middle. Her pampers were dry and her stretchable necklace of white plastic beads finished the look. Her hair was manageable and the black pants was found in drawers next to her bed.

The girl was very good in taking pictures and directed us to place chairs, line up the cake under the right lighting underneath the skylight and who needs to pose with whom. That’s why I love her for those small gestures. The boy seemed lost just like his Paw.

Then in about thirty minutes the first batch of relatives came over. One by one they brought in their food. Orge and Maldeath, James and Malouse, Gigalo, Dead and Bella and then Malnorm, followed by Gignat and her parents, Glorge and Smack. Gignat got a shorter haircut like mine, only with ruby highlights. Nice!

More photos were taken, more food was consumed and the relatives actually seemed MORE behaved and sincere about being together for a long time. The prayers of Maw worked. After all, we don’t see each other that often and it’s good to see and hear the same stuff over. Plus, my broken Tagalog impressed a few older relatives. It pays to be respectful and forgiving nonetheless.

I then said my `paahlahm` of the usual kisses and hugs. The only uncle missing in this event was married to the one that Paw called last Friday. The wife probably prevented her husband to not attend the party. We are not surprised.

Then Gigalo invited us over to visit the Bitter one at her daughters home off of Eden Shores Blvd. in Hayward, CA. The neighborhood is nice and near the Costco store at the corner of Hisperian Blvd. and Industrial Blvd. The road was winding but easy to navigate. The house was clean but there was Pepper the dog, who didn’t bark! Children were playing ball inside too. The Christmas tree didn’t have presents underneath.

And after one hour of Maw and the Bitter one chatting, the husbands couldn’t stand it anymore, got up from the central island in the kitchen and went to the bedroom. It was getting stuffy inside anyways and I needed fresh air! So the Bitter one seemed fine and thinner but still sported the big belly.

We walked each other to the front door. Her hands were cold. Her fingernails were thick and blackened a bit. She didn’t want to let go of my hands and I offered support of daily prayers for her speedy recovery. Actually, she is very religious and grew up with her grandmother who encouraged the children to sing the loudest.

We made our way home, made note of the address and ended up buying a dozen pieces of extra crispy chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC – off Capital Ave. in San Jose, CA).