"Roads are a record of those who have gone before".
I have been passing by this road all my life. Today I stopped for a while. Nothing has changed so much. This is still same old road I cherish. In every roadside are pieces of memories I pick up, and put together and see what it has led me to.
Record of Childhood
This road was my playground. We used to run here and there and laugh our hearts out. This is where we used to play all sorts of game like patintero, sud-sod, sip-sip, dr. kwak-kwak, siato and so on [ I wish I could explain how these games are played but that would be very tedious to tackle]. We would sometimes quarrel with playmates when we lost a game and went back to being friends again after offering them a piece of candy. On the hills was where the most fun happens, hill surfing using takong ( spathe of the coconut tree) or palwa (petiole of the coconut leaf). We didn't care if we got bruised, hurt, or broke our bones, we were just happy. We would come home to a mother carrying a stick ready to strike us because we're covered in dust or mud. Children as we were, we would took ripe guavas from our neighbor and would eventually got caught. We would run the fastest trying to escape the fury of our angry neighbor. I couldn't hold my laughter as I remember those moments. Those are the moments I wish I could come back to, happy days as a child with nothing much to worry about life. Happy childhood days on the road. ![img_0.49201208979980576](
Witness to progression
This road is a witnessed to my progression from elementary years to high school. We walked this road from home to school. Elementary years was the real struggle. My lean body used to carry a bag full of heavy books to school and back home. But those struggles bear sweet fruits as we walk down this road wearing a gown and a toga to our graduation.High school were the days of excitement, fitting in and finding my identity. The burden on our shoulders were heavier. But on this road was where for a moment we were able to suspend our worries and struggles as a teenager as we walked home. This was were we talked about our "kilig moments", the frustrations over academic grades, our enemies, or our terror teachers in school together with my barkada (closest friends). Many has changed in me in many aspects and this road was my witness. If it was a person he may had tapped me on the back and said good job.
Road to new beginnings and beautiful endings
Along the road, the young coconut trees before has grown up tall now. The old trees are years older now but stronger than ever. Some trees may have not survived from all the conditions they been through-natural or man-made but some have survived to tell their stories. Some ricefields are left untilled and become a grazing area for cows and goats. The flowers bloomed and withered. The grasses grow and die. And that is life, we live and grow. We come and go.
This road has led me to what I am today. It shaped my childhood, a witness to my joys and sadness, hardships and victories, and motivates me with its stories of strength, persistence and resilience. For a while, I would like to stop in this side of the road pick up some pieces of my self until I complete them.