Old CD-R in the Storage Closet!

          Today I found an old CD-R in one of the storage closets in my room. It read, "Ainna, Buzzer & Ponchay PICTURES" in Ninang's* handwriting. First of all, my little brother's name is Ricardo and my little sister's name is Ysabella. I'm not quite sure how they ended up being called "Buzzer" and "Ponchay" but they just did. No, "Ponchay" doesn't translate to anything in Tagalog. I popped the CD into the computer and the pictures I saw brought back memories.

          The awkward girl (yes, girl) in this picture is me. The day this picture was taken was the first day I learned how to ride a bike. It wasn't even my bike. I remember wanting to learn how to ride a bike while I was living in a small subdivision in the Philippines. The old bikes we had weren't exactly ride-able but it didn't matter because they were too high anyway. The neighbors to our left had a son named Joshua--he was the "Little Joshua" my family knew, not to be confused with the "big Joshua" who lived a couple more houses to the left. "Big Joshua" wasn't exactly "big" --he was fairly tall but he was my age. "Little Joshua" was closer to Buzzer's age.

          Little Joshua had a bike. I remember watching him ride it down the streets to the tindahan* while I sat outside. One day, one of our ya-yas* asked Little Joshua's ya-yas if we could borrow their bike. They said yes but also let us know that Joshua fell from it not too long ago, causing one of the training wheels to break off. I remember feeling a light sense of fear--which was soon masked by how excited I was to finally be able to know what it's like to ride a bike.

          I remember feeling so tall while riding that bike. I kept looking down because I couldn't believe I was actually doing it. Looking back at the picture, the bike looks much smaller than I remembered it. I know I grew and everything, but if the bike was even just a little bigger, maybe I would still feel as valiant as I did on that day.

Even though it may seem much more humble now, I think it was a feat I can still be proud of.

***

*Ninang -- this is similar to "Aunt" in Tagalog.
Fittingly, I found a picture of us on the CD also.

She's still as pretty as she was years ago.

Farther down is a very recent picture of us.

Hopefully I age as gracefully as she does.
She's definitely my favorite Ninang.

*tindahan -- small neighborhood store
*ya-ya -- family helper, nanny, caregiver, etc.