Of OFW's and... everything else

Am sitting here brooding over the trip that I did not make to Houston. My niece Michelle, a FA for Emirates flew in to Houston and on the ground for 2 days. Chat and I were planning to fly down there yesterday but something came up with her job that she needed to attend to. So I’m here trying to decide where I should eat for lunch and should I go to the library or to Barnes and Noble.



Then my eye caught a glimpse of this postcard that my backpacking friend sent me. I laid it by my pc the other day and it got covered by all the junk mail. As I study this postcard, some things come to mind – back when things were simpler.

Like when head lice were like a house pet. We didn’t want to feed them but they’re there anyway. When we wanted them removed we simply sat tiered on the rickety stairs with 7 opinionated females.

Back then when you went to a wedding you didn’t have to ask or wonder because the couple were really a man and a woman. The only question you asked was –How could you afford all these pigs and chickens? By the way, my head pets were very fat and healthy my mom had to borrow a spoonful of malathion from our neighbor to get rid of it. But the neighborhood women still gathered around my head hunting for something. “No, we need to make sure all the eggs are dead.”

Michelle was telling me about the places she has been to and the men she has met. An Italian fell madly in love with her, he camped out at her apartment door in Dubai, she had to change apartments. Another guy gifted her with an Omega watch with 30 diamonds. I said, “Let me guess, either he’s a corrupt politician or a rich Chinese.” She said, “Neither.”

We talked about how hard it is sometimes, sleeping in different hotels and cities crossing different timelines. But not as hard as the other OFW’s who are not able to come home at least the whole year if not more. Then I think about the suffocating loneliness for those who does not have access to computers and cyberspace communication.

Wherever you are, whoever you are Thank You, OFW. Give yourself a pat on the back -here’s the latest report from BSP -
Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent $1.5 billion home in June, the highest ever recorded since 1989, bringing the total remittance level to $8.2 billion for the first six months of the year.

I lost my appetite from talking about head pets but my friend Isaac just called, wants to know if I want to get some Mexican. I said, I don’t do Mexican. “Fool, I’m talking about food.” So got to run.