Days of "Strawberry Jam" without "J"
Dear Jam,It is your first time to visit our hometown cemetery and be closer to the remains of the people we so endear. A day of many firsts actually. It was your first time to eat OREOS, too since you've been on Daddy's healthy diet. What first is most important is Lolo Tony's antics. If you are the Antic Princess, he definitely has got to be the Antic King by default and someone in our generation has yet to defeat him.
What was his prank on you? He wouldn't give his hand for you to do the Filipino customary respects. He did, actually, more than a couple of times but as you were bent to receive it, he would pull away. He kept doing this until you finally got tired of having to deal with it. You huddled under my
arms and wouldn't look at him. When you were better, forgetting and forgiving that prank, he said you were "KSP" a joke on the derogatory Filipino remark, which meant "Kulang sa Pansin" or "Lacks Attention" to be direct in English. You didn't like that, in fact you understood it that this time the drama you used to pull on us was rather expected and realistic. You eluded 
him completely merely receiving the "amazing"lighting gadget he gave you and nudged him off. Then we had the ritual prayers for the dead beloved where he kept mumbling at my ear with every opportunity he had. When Mamilou was saying the important lines of mentioning the names of the dead, Lolo Tony was saying "How about Dr. Jose Rizal? He is your Lolo right? And he is dead..." and then mentioned a couple more names. Annoyed for the buzzing which wasn't only audible to my ears but yours as well, you said "Shaba" or "saba", meaning "Shut up!" Ohh! Baby's got attitude! Well, that quieted him as to the effectiveness of your admonition.
You were observant with everything going on the cemetery. To be honest, it has been three years since I last visited the place, myself. And I pretty much enjoyed seeing family members trying to reunite, being warm with each other, having fun. But I guess having TOO MUCH fun that really freaked you out. When we stepped down the taxi, we were met with a horrific image that was your Uncle Jerry, rouged by all the mess on his face, we thought he had met a brawl. It was upon closer inspection, we learned that he put makeup on for Halloween effects. When his brother Uncle Jessie joined us, he brought this eerie big mask he wore with a black mantle over him. It really freaked you out, you wouldn't pull off from me. I didn't want to be sadistic but I wanted to show that it was merely a mask and something that shouldn't invoke your fear. But then I didn't force you and asked your Uncle Jerry and Uncle Jessie to resume the masquerade after we leave. It's just too bad that we didn't know they had planned to throw a little Hallow's Eve soiree. Maybe next year then when your grown up, yeah?
We had planned to leave early in the morning to the cemetery today but I begged Mamilou to wait until you had forty winks. This didn't happen so you lacked sleep when we were in the cemetery, which why it was easier to scare you off with all the shimsham. On the way home, you fell asleep in the taxi. To this, you had regained just about the needed energy to be playful at dinner. You gave Nahnang extra helpings of rice from the pot. It's cute. We said that you'd be helpful to Mamala at the eatery when you grow up.
I am proud to say though that even as sleep has been elusive since
yesterday, it hasn't toned down your intelligence a bit. You sang with Mamilou, holding the microphone correctly and by yourself. You made me laugh when you saw the edited pictures from yesterday's shoot and how you pointed at them saying "Moomoo". Your Nahnang and I are puzzling as to whereabouts you picked up the word and associated it to "moomoo" or monsters? It seems you just get from stored memories where once you heard them from us when speech wasn't endowed to you yet and now that you can talk, you have recalled them. A fine example of which should be "Pooh Bear". We left your yellow training 
bottle in Kauswagan where there is an image of "Pooh Bear" embossed on it. You hesitated to suck from it, looked at the bottle and said "Pooh Beht". Wow! The last time I told you who that little bulge on the bottle was about six months ago! Amazing, you are! To top that, you learned a new word today and that is "camera." Since the letter "r" proves to be difficult for you, you say "camena". That should be enough! ;)Killing time before sleep, we watched SCOTT PILGRIM and EAT, PRAY, LOVE. The former is a comic-rendered video game-inspired story of a boy named SCOTT PILGRIM who meets a girl who has SEVEN EVIL EXES. To win RAMONA FLOWERS, Scott has to beat all of these exes. It's cool and quirky! Now, I love EAT,PRAY,LOVE. It is starred in by no less than one of Hollywood's greatest actress, Julia Roberts. Who she will by your time, I am not sure but I bet she will be remembered just as we respect Elizabeth Taylor who was at the peak of her career in Mamilou's youth. Anyway, the whole movie has been helpful. It has helped me realize a couple of things in my life and it made me break down and cry and open up and finally decide to cut down everything unhealthy in it.
JAMantic of the Day:
You have this new lingo which is made up of the three basic words "shabalam", "babam", and "eshabam". What they refer to and how they came about, needs to further observation. It sounds a bit Arabic doesn't it? I wish! xD
Your MAYmah,
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