Last Sunday I attended a cousin’s daughter’s baptism as a guest, not as a godmother because for some weird reason I seem to have dodged the bullet of being a godmother.  I guess it’s mostly because we moved here to Laguna way before my cousins and I could even bond.  So the cousins who now have kids of their own can only seem to remember my brother’s existence and not mine, so he gets the invitations to all the weddings and the baptisms and all the fun stuff.

Anyway.  The baptism was actually an experience for me because I’ve never actually witnessed one before.  Gosh, I feel like an infant because every time I do something or go somewhere in Bagbaguin, it almost always feel like a brand new experience. 

I have this qualm about going to family gatherings in Bagbaguin: I must always have a close cousin or aunt by my side to tell me who exactly this person I’m talking to is.  It’s not my fault, really.  I just don’t know who they are.  I sort of know them by face but I really have no idea what their names are or how exactly we’re related.  And that’s embarrassing, you know, because they obviously know who I am although I don’t know how exactly.

In church I sat beside an aunt who spent the night in Laguna and it was all very civil.  I didn’t get to say anything to the godfathers and godmothers (most of whom were my cousins) because I didn’t know what to say. 

And then we were off to the reception to feast on the food prepared by my relatives, who were true-blue traditionalists when it comes to cooking.  I’m not kidding.  They have the recipes to dishes like menudo, embutido, lumpiang shanghai, sinapalukang manok and minatamis so down pat that no matter which house you go to, all those dishes would always taste the same.  And that’s always cool because at least one aspect of the day was familiar to me.

But because I was up until four in the morning drinking with my other set of cousins I was already sleepy as hell when two o’clock in the afternoon rolled around.  My cousins and a few guests have already started the rounds of the beer, but the group was mostly composed of girls.  And I couldn’t, for the life of me, find myself enjoying their company because I was so freakin’ sleepy. 

So I excused myself, telling them that I’d go back later in the evening when the drinking session’s in full swing.  I got Rakel’s number and told her that I’ll just take a quick nap at home and text when I woke up.

But when I did wake up my aunt came back from the party and told me not to go back anymore because everybody was already wasted.  So I made other plans with the people from next door to go to the town perya (carnival) down by the church.  I was actually so psyched to go to the perya because it literally has been years since I’ve last been to one and I missed playing bingo and eating the pink popcorn.  I figured, hey, even if I didn’t’ get to bond with the cousins from Lawang Bato, I’d still get to bond with the cousins from Bagbaguin so it’s no loss, right?

-To Be Continued-