Independence Day Weekend

In anticipation of guests coming to watch the Pacquiao vs. Larios fight with us last Saturday, I hurriedly tidied up the house. First, I swept the leaves that have been falling non-stop from the tree in front. It’s not autumn, darn it. I’ve had to do this consistently the past few weeks lest I get dirty looks from the neighbors. The brittle leaves have been blowing all over the cul-de-sac, ending up in my neighbors’ yards. The tree was taunting me though, I’m telling you. As soon as I finish sweeping the last of the leaves, a couple more would drop.

Next, I plucked out rogue plants that have invaded our garden bed. They’re not classified as weeds, but they sure act like ‘em. Lastly, I finally installed the new dryer that was sitting in the living room for a couple of weeks. It was missing the giant three-prong plug which I eventually found and bought at Home Depot.

The Pacquiao-Larios boxing match on pay-per-view is the second Pacquiao fight I’ve watched. Manny is quite the unstoppable fighter. He studies his opponents and adjusts his style accordingly to eventually bring them down. Last Saturday’s bout was broadcast live from the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. It was amusing to see that the typeface used in the “Araneta Coliseum” sign is the same as the one used in the poster for the first Star Trek movie. It reminds me of the time when RPN 9 nightly news (with Harry Gasser) used to use the Battlestar Galactica theme song in its opening credits two decades ago.

Out of all that happened this holiday, my eldest son learning to ride a bike is the one I cherish the most. It was a goal of mine to teach him to do so this summer. But I can’t take the credit for it. It was his uncle who taught him. And what better teacher than my cousin? He’s one of the most patient guys I know. My son went over to his house after church last Sunday to play with his kids. When I went to pick him up after a couple of hours, I was delighted to see him bicycling around their cul-de-sac with his cousins and friends. It was “peer pressure” that got him to do it, one of his titas said. I’m sure that’s partially true but I believe the fact that he’s learned to balance with his Heelys previously helped a lot. In fact, it’s what made him take on ice skating quite easily the first time we went.

My son was visibly excited to be able to ride a bike. It reminded me of the first time I learned. I was around my son’s age. A neighborhood kid taught me how. I didn’t have a bike of my own so I learned on his. The thanks I gave him was running into him with his own bike while he was doing a lay-up at the local outdoor court (accidentally, of course). Anyway, biking gave me a tremendous feeling of freedom. It pushed the boundaries with which I was allowed to cross in my neighborhood. Instead of just walking to the corner sari-sari store, I was now able to buy a bottle of Coke and a bag of shrimp chips from a store several blocks away.

I felt silly driving to work on Monday. Nobody was there. I should strike up conversations with my coworkers once in awhile in order to be up on what’s going on at work, shouldn’t I? So I turned around, went home and spent the rest of the day with the kids. We first went to the library. They read their books while I caught up with some work. A couple of hours later, we went to the park – to go biking of course!

My wife came up with a last minute plan to have a picnic at the park across the street to celebrate the 4th of July. We invited a few family and friends and had a couple of tables reserved early yesterday morning. We got the barbecue going, got a couple of banigs and folding chairs out, the kids got wet from the water guns, and there was more biking. We topped off the day by going to the adjacent city where setting off fireworks is legal.