Gaps, patches and in-betweens

We were never an outspoken "I love you" family but we had the not-so-perfunctory kiss when leaving and arriving. Those pecks on one cheek for me meant every unspoken word it stood for - Don't worry. I'll take care. Wish me luck on my errand. I'll try not to come home too late.  I had a good day. We lost the volleyball game but I saw my crush. I am dreading our piano lesson on Sunday.  I'll do my homework now. Without the kiss, our outings would have been illegal. It meant we snuck out, you and Papa were already asleep and it was really late.  I was always more afraid of Papa. With you, I can reason. With Papa, I just walk out and did not come back until he was ready to forgive and I, him.  I did not dare kiss him during his last days. One time,  I was trying to exercise his legs and he kicked, like wanting to shake off my hands, hating the feeling of not being able to move them himself.  He attempted to throw a pillow at my daughter, mistaking ...

I can watch sunsets now. Everyday. Around this time two months ago before the lockdown, I would be in the office in a silent debate about whether to stay a bit more and let the mad rush pass or brave it and go home. I would look through the office's floor-to-ceiling windows with the sea of backlights and headlights confirming the state of traffic affairs below. With the windows draped, it is the same level of lighting the whole day, every day. The only sign that it was time for anything was the notifications on your laptop, your laptop's clock, the clock on the wall or people moving about - to have lunch, snack and go home, trickling away one by one until almost everyone is gone. Leaving the office, I would be confronted with sights of cars, traffic lights and people walking. If I am lucky and on cooler nights when I'm not wearing heels, I'd see the moon as I walk, the stars too faint to cut through Manila smog. Now, my signal that the day is about to end is the...

Almost two months on enhanced community quarantine, being forced to stay home does something to you. You are bombarded with news and social media in an attempt to keep connected to the world that is just outside but you cannot step into. You are here, but you cannot be outside. Some people have commented on how the virus does not choose: race, age, gender, economic status, etc. Though everyone is indeed affected, as our global equality, diversity and inclusion lead said, we are affected and isolating all at the same time, yes. But we are doing it in different rooms looking at it from different balconies. Or something like that. The virus had to strike during summer here in the Philippines. For people living in the slum areas in urban Manila, that is the worse time to be stuck at home.  There was a news story where the mayor of Manila had to put a barangay in lockdown because people just defied the stay-at-home government order. People trooped outside and watched a boxi...