This Happened When We Finally Stayed In One Place
On top of all things being put on hold
I used to have three homes.
For almost 3 years, I was living in a studio apartment in the city. It fit my budget and a close walking distance to the office.
On weekends, I went home to my parents’ house for a visit. This is also where I am staying right now.
On other weekends, I went to our home in the province that also happens to be a beach resort. It’s breathtaking when the sun starts to set.
For almost three years, I traveled back and forth between these three places. I was always out and about on weekends, packing, and unpacking my bags.
Now, there’s only one. I recently wrote about how it’s like to be living with parents at my age.
From the time that the Philippine President announced the start of quarantine, we were all forced to stay at home.
When we were forced to stay in one place, we all got into a funk. A funk where we enjoy unproductively lazy days but also long for the thrill of travel.
We recall the days when we can easily hang out with close friends on a Friday night, sipping delicious, aged wine, rambling the night away.
We look at old photos from our recent trips and ask, ‘When will it be safe to travel and be with people again?’
I started growing oyster mushrooms a couple of weeks back. So far, I haven’t seen any mushroom coming out of the fruiting bag. They need water 3–5x a day and I check on them often to see if anything changed.
The other day, I saw a huge snail in one of our aloe vera pots. Last week, I removed about 12 tiny snails from another pot.
When we are forced to stay in one place and we see every little thing move and change.
Gardening has become a hobby here at home and in almost all homes here in Manila. At the balcony, my herbs have been growing leaves so fast, especially the basil plant. I’ve been using herbs in almost every recipe that I try.
Growing plants is definitely not a fast activity. Results come in weeks or months.
When we are forced to stay in one place, we learn that patience, indeed, is a virtue. There is nothing wrong with waiting.
Returning home meant living with my dog, Peanut. Biking her around the neighborhood a few times each week showed me how much my older neighbors have aged. Each morning I try to give out a cheerful ‘good morning!’ to them and sometimes chat. It feels nice to see the same people every day.
When we are in one place for a long time, we find comfort in familiarity.
No matter how annoying my parents could get, I learned to appreciate their quirks. I appreciate how my father tries every dish I make, even if it’s horrible. I appreciate my mother’s selflessness more than ever.
We used to complain about not having enough quality time with our family. Now that we have so much of it, what are we doing? Are we making the most out of this time?
When we are forced to stay at home, we rediscover what our family is really like.
The past few months allowed us to look more closely at how things go through the passing days, how our moods vary, and how life can change so quickly.
Every so often, we get reminded of how easily life can be taken away from us, and be given to us with a newborn.
Our lives were going way too fast before the world stood still. Now, we’re learning to live slowly.
The world might be falling apart, but it has brought us to that one place we call home.
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