16 August 2024
"Spending quality time with the family should always have a spot in our timetable despite the busyness. That helps strengthen connections and solidify family identity."
My family has never been complete for many years and will never be now that our father is no longer with us. For seven years of being away from them, I missed many occasions and special events. I missed seeing my younger siblings grow up. I missed seeing my niblings delivered into this world. I missed being with my father during his last breaths and many more events. Now that I am back home, I take the chance to celebrate special life events with them as I might retake a new journey when the right time comes. By then, I'll be away from home again and still need to decide when to return.
These past weeks that I have been here at home, we celebrated (and will celebrate for as long as I am here) every birthday celebration of my siblings and niblings and other special events. May it be grand or simple, the purpose is to bring my family together again, to create valuable memories with them, and to share genuine laughter and joy with them, not just merely with photographs or virtual calls.
July marked the month with lots of celebrants from our family. September will follow, so more celebrations are expected. That can be understood because my family is big, lol. In fact, I shared some birthday celebrations here and here. And again, we recently celebrated two birthdays on different occasions and in different places, where we created new memories again. Those are saved in my treasure chest that will last a lifetime.
In this blog, I'll share our beach bonding and my niece's birthday celebration last 22nd of July. We were still incomplete, though, due to distance and the call of duty for others. What mattered was the bond, and good memories created that day.
My eldest brother returned home from duty to celebrate her youngest daughter's birthday with us. The celebration was unannounced, and the invitation was only sent to our group chat by surprise at the moment my brother's family was on the way to the venue. Fortunately, the venue was within easy reach, so we were able to gather once more after many years.
Once again, we had beach family bonding. As mentioned before, my family has liked going to the beach near our place to celebrate special occasions since we were young. It is the same beach, Labnasan Beach, where we celebrated my niece, Breiana's birthday, which you can read here.
We always rent a bigger cottage with karaoke because my family, like many other Filipinos, loves singing karaoke on special occasions. If you visit the Philippines, don't be surprised if almost all houses have karaoke devices or CD/DVD players with microphones.
My sister and I were in the city when my brother sent the invitation to our group chat, so we were the last to arrive.
My niece Breiana is playful, as always.
On the other hand, my niece, Jehrian, the celebrant, was still sick with a fever, but the celebration continued. We just did things to make her smile, although she wasn't feeling well. She wanted to bond more with her dad, perhaps.
Meanwhile, my premature niece, Ashley, from my second older brother (who was absent that day), always wanted to play with the waves. Like her mother, she likes swimming.
Nieces bond this time even though, like many other kids, they aren't always on good terms.
But we promote harmonious relationships among my niblings so that when they grow up, they'll be more than just cousins; they'll be sisters or brothers.
I was unprepared that day, so I couldn't enjoy swimming with them. But there's always a sense of contentment and joy when seeing them happy and enjoying.
This spot is now my favorite on this beach. There are more beach names in the area which I want to visit next time.
To wrap this up. Life is all about shared memories. It is undeniable that this kind of gathering serves as a reminder that the beauty of life lies in the connections we hold dear and the experiences we create genuinely with the people we love.
Happy weekend!
Thanks for your time.
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Jane is a Filipina wanderer in a foreign land who finds comfort in nature and freedom in writing. She loves watching raw picturesque landscapes, listening to the symphony of nature, breathing in drops of sunshine, walking through scenic trails and cityscapes, tasting new culinary flavors, capturing pretty little things, venturing into hidden gems, and dancing with the flow of life.
Her new experiences, adventures, challenges, lessons, small successes, and joys are colorful paints that fill up her canvas of life. She hopes to see it beautifully painted while she can.
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