Off To The Visayas

We'll be flying to the Visayas tomorrow. I'll get back right away before undas.

In the Philippines, undas refers to November 1 (I think). During this time when we remember those who have gone on ahead of us to the next life, we struggle with those left on this earth.

We struggle through traffic, through slack-turning-to-peak seasons, through disappearing airline discounts. We grapple with our shaken souls through prayers, through gray distances, through time stretched into a thin line of eternity.

We brace for the shock of getting uprooted from our familiar daily existence called life.

And we will survive. Hopefully.

We will miraculously survive and give hope to those left behind, to those stranded far away from our true home. We will come back and answer those 31,000 emails in our groaning inboxes. We shall return sunburned, yet a little wiser.

And to those who have flown onwards to that enviable final vacation: I miss you. Very much.

See you soon.

[ First posted on 10/26/2004 by Manuel Viloria ]