Quo

Today I went to my great-aunt’s 75th birthday party. I always know what to expect when going to family gatherings. The first 10 minutes are spent greeting all the relatives and a few strangers. We eat food (today’s menu consisted of short ribs, regular ribs, tacos, palabok, a giant burrito, lumpia, a salad, dinuguan, shrimp, and of course, rice [probably leaving some stuff out]). I get asked multiple times about the application process/ the future. I play with the kids. I rest and eat more food. Say hi to any late people coming from their game, rehearsal, audition, etc. My cousin Sam is jamming out on his guitar (follow him on Instagram), my other cousin’s are playing catch. Dad and my uncles are taking turns massaging each other on whatever soft flat surface they can find. One of my aunts is organizing party games and all the older titas eagerly gather to participate. And when the time comes my other aunt rallies everyone to start cleaning up.

It’s all very predictable and there’s other smaller details that I’ve kept out. Those details are just observations that I think add to the overall picture, but would take a long time to explain and give context too, and to abbreviate them would be both ineffectual or confusing. That predictability is not necessarily a bad thing though, I find comfort in it. It’s nice knowing that no matter what is going in my life some things never change. I can always depend on my family to be there like they always have, doing their thing.