Reminiscing Happiness

When I was a kid, the downtown area of Bacolod City is my personal playground. I memorized every corner, every shortcut — just not the street names, I’m poor at that. :/

Anyway, I would cross the streets braving the danger of rushing vehicles. I was never afraid of crossing the street. Maybe because of that incident from when I was younger — but that’s a story for another time. :) I always feel a great adrenalin rush whenever I’m racing for my life. And in those moments when I’m only split seconds away from getting hit by a vehicle, and I survived, I would mentally laugh at the drivers thinking, “I win, losers!” I would savor every small victory and continue half trotting, half jumping to another building in the area.

I and my sister played house in the malls (Gaisano, Lopue’s Araneta, Lopue’s San Sebastian). We even befriended some of the salesladies! Maybe they thought we were cute. hehe. We would go from one mirror to the next, making all kinds of faces. We’d sit on crystal stalls and talk in whispers. One time, one of the stalls actually cracked because my sister was quite fat at that time, and the security guards had to fetch our mother from our fruit stand (just outside of Gaisano). She had to pay for that cracked glass too. :/ It took years before I managed to come near that crystal stall in the school supplies department again.

But there are fun times too! We would go to the groceries section and head to the large freezers where they put ice creams and other frozen products. We would scrape the ice that gathered at the sides of the freezers and we would throw it in the air — daydreaming of snow. Or we would go to the appliances section and watch whatever free show we can get from the large TVs. 

As I said earlier, my mother is a fruit vendor. We have a fruit stand in the sidewalks of Gatuslao St. in downtown Bacolod. That’s why I’m such an expert in the whereabouts of the area. I pretty much grew up there. And FYI, most of my relatives from my mother’s side are fruit vendors too (and damn good ones). That’s why the name EXALTADO is very popular in the central market and downtown area. You insult one, you insult the whole clan — that’s how tight our extended family is.

Anyway, because we couldn’t afford a yaya and Mama couldn’t leave me on my own, she brought me with her to the downtown every day. She would make a makeshift bed for me, made from two empty cartons of apples placed side by side. When I get bored in my mother’s fruit stand I would run across two streets and drink Milo in our clan’s Kapihan (small cafe) inside Central Market. It is named Cafe Exellente. Man, the coffee sure is excellent. It’s from pure Batangas coffee beans — always freshly ground and brewed. But I was still a kid back then so I would just stick to Milo. :)

I miss my playground now that I’m all old and bored and struggling in Cebu City. But most of all, I miss those moments when my biggest worry was how to avoid a rushing jeepney. I miss running around not caring about everyone else. I miss the feeling of childish delight when I eat a two peso ice scramble topped with condensed milk and chocolate syrup. I miss the daydreams and happiness that you can only feel if you were a kid.