Caroleen’s Treasures

I do not know how long have I slept last night but boy was I glad that I have at least gone to sleep even when I kept on waking up. Ella have slept early last night and at almost 10, she woke up to eat dinner. Since she has already slept, it was hard for her to get back to sleep when Donald and I called it lights off at midnight. I was hoping I could sleep soundly through the night but Ella keeps on tossing in bed. That wakes me up each time I doze off. After the lights are off, I heard her whisper her prayer that she could wake up early and that her hands could write faster. In the morning when it’s time to prepare for school, we had no problem with her.

 She have already set her mind that she’s going to school early today and she stuck to her plan.

 The weather has been nice yesterday so there was not much of mud but still Ella has to be careful not to get her shoes and socks dirty. Since it’s been more than a month that Ella hadn’t seen her classmates and teacher, Donald asked Bogart to go with them thinking Ella might feel uncomfortable and would be so uneasy but Donald was wrong. Ella was as hyper as before and she came straight to me telling me about how fast her hands could write and that she and her classmates played “war” during recess time. She said they are out in the playground running and hiding in the grasses from the boys who had toy guns. She must have really exhausted all her energy that we found her fast asleep on the floor while watching a movie after just a few moments when it started.

It was a very nice day with so much sunshine. Our clothes are out in the sun, neatly lined on the clothesline. Donald went out in the afternoon to get the money from selling the power tools that Mama Ingrid sent. They are of her late husband and she sent it to us just so we could either use it or sell it. Each time she asks if we already showed the tools to some people who might want to buy it, I always made an excuse because I really wanted to keep it. Then after two months of debating with myself if we will keep or sell it, I finally agreed with Donald to just sell it because we are moving back to Kabacan. We don’t have much space there and we couldn’t use it anyway so why not sell it and just buy the money with something that could remind us of Mama Ingrid and her husband’s power tools. So yesterday he showed it to Kuya Bernard (Tatang’s son-in-law) and they sealed a deal right away. We made P8,000 ($170) for a portable DeWalt drill, circular saw and two sanders. He was asked to come back today for the money and so while Ella was asleep and I was trying to nap, he left to get the money and to bring screws and drill bits as freebies for the power tools lot. Later, I heard people and motorbikes coming and more and more people coming. I was curious what was happening because vehicles and people rarely pass by here (the road less travelled) so I made a peek on the window and saw men carrying fighting cocks in their arms like babies and crowd started to build in the lot adjacent to the lot next to us.

I knew it. They are going to hold a cock fight here and this time I was praying it would rain and I don’t care if the laundry won’t dry. I wanted to go to the bathroom for a shower but I was afraid to leave Ella alone in the house. This is what watching too much news on TV can do. I was so paranoid that they might fight over money and would start killing each other. What a shame to me for thinking that way but I just wanted to keep safe. I finally had showered when Donald came back and he was as mad as me for seeing the people make the place as cockpit. We were both asking why here? Maybe the cockpit arena was flooded?  When I was all dressed….it rained!!! Thanks goodness it did because they all left running like there were cops coming to arrest them. (But I doubt if cops would arrest them…I think it is legal here.)

In the evening, I was in bed trying to fill my lungs with air. I was feeling like I am suffocating and that I wanted to rest but I can’t find a comfortable position. Like I told you, it was so hard for me to sleep at night because I can’t lie flat nor do the side position because that would hurt my scapulas (the plate-like bone just under the back of our shoulders). I even asked Donald to make a hole in the matress and the bed so I could lie on my tummy which is the only position I could sleep well with when I wasn’t pregnant yet. I was in distress mode when Ella came to me for a snuggle. I let her lie beside me and asked her how’s school. She said it was fine and that they have written some lessons on their notebooks and their papers. She showed me her score on their short quiz.

I couldn’t get mad at her because when I asked her why she only got 2….she sweetly assured me, “wag kang mag-alala Mommy. Bukas 3 na ang score ko.” (Don’t worry Mommy. Tomorrow it will be 3.) That’s my problem with her. She could get very high score if not perfect after a first quiz (which I think she assumes as trial quiz) I kept reminding her that there are not trials and that all the quizzes are recorded. Anway, she’s still in Kinder 2 not college. At least she promised me that next time she will get 3.