"You are my strength, strength like no other. Reaches to me"

3 more days till my flight to Iloilo, Philippines.
Can't wait. Two weeks is alil' short tho', i haven't seen and spent time with all the family over there for a long time. Dad joked once that the family's now a refugee camp.
Each time we visit since 1996 when we moved here, there's always a number more of additions to the cousins. Last year we went (mission trip w chris and nana) and i asked Harjane "how many cousins do we have now?" to which she smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
Will never forget Quan's look of surprise in 2003 when he exclaimed, "All these running around are your cousins?! Those too?!"

The down side of not living there anymore is that, relationships are not really close anymore. The last family trip when finally the younger ones opened up to me we had to leave. Of course there are some bonds that will always remain close. Like between me and Jane. We were the first two grandchilds, like sisters, each other's playmate till more came. Dave and Joy joined, then came Melasel, Amiel, Raj, Junjun, but by the time they turned three, we moved to Singapore (Joy's my auntie by the way, mum's youngest sister, she's two years younger than me, my Lola's amazing isnt she?)

Well, i am looking forward to this trip, but its gonna be different from the last.
Jane and the older ones are attending college in the city now, and the school term there just started so i'll only get to see them during the weekends. I'll be preety much alone most of the time. The rest of the closer cousins are having highschool. Maybe Dave could probably accompany us after class but its not the same without the rest. It wont be like the last trip when we'd walk to the beach to catch crabs or get my uncle to ride us in the tricycad (bicycle with attached compartment w seats next to it) to the jetty late at night.
Now that im thinking about it, i miss my childhood days there.