THE QUARTER-AFTER-LIFE

On Saturday afternoon I got a glimpse of a probable future; not just MY future, but possibly everyone’s future too. Matt, Chris, Tin-Tin and I spent the day at Bonelli Park in San Dimas with Iya and her family to celebrate Matthew’s (Iya’s nephew) first birthday. The theme of the day was Shrek, and Kuya Francis and Ate Jenny (Iya’s bro and sis-in-law) spared nothing on relaying the importance of the green ogre to their guests: fluorescent green table cloths, balloons and cups, a Shrek piñata with matching balloon, give-away bags and plates, Shrek ears and a HUGE Shrek cake. Not-so-little-anymore Matthew just learned how to walk so he was all over the place on Saturday afternoon.

What got to me that day, however, wasn’t just the joy of celebrating a first birthday. It was all of Kuya Francis and Ate Jenny’s friends with THEIR kids. A lot of their friends’ children are around the same and it was just so nice, to see all these 30-something group of friends who probably used to party and hang out together, now married, have kids and still party (albeit kids’ parties) and hang out together. It made me wonder what kind of things they’d been through when they were younger, before the marriage and before the babies. I thought of all of us, who right now are having the time of our lives going to the movies, hanging out at each others’ houses, partying, going on trips, all the while working hard to settle into (or try to find) our places in this world. And then I looked forward to 5-10 years from now (maybe less), where weddings will occur every other week and then there’ll be baptisms to attend in the time thereafter wedding season, followed by first birthdays, graduations, etc. I can’t wait!