Three Days of Freedom

It has been three days of blackout in our place due to the damages brought by Typhoon Glenda. Lucky that our house is sturdy enough to endure the strong winds caused by the Signal number 3 typhoon. Had it been our house years ago (about 20 years way back) there would be no chance that I’d be here doing my blog.

Three days without electricity and communication was way too much; my life has been in coexistence with the internet world. I live 24/7 in constant connection with the social media, doing my job online and keeping up every now and then with the news on television. Three days without those would be a big mess of disturbance to my system – should it be my younger self, I’d be anxious and panicky, all feeling miserable -- but things have gone different now. Maybe a little bit worried for the follow ups that I’d be delayed to answer, but I took it all as an opportunity to unwind and breathe out the exhaustion caused to me by the internet world.

For three days I felt that surge of relief from something that’s been keeping and choking me for the whole time. All those times I thought I had my freedom...until those three days of being shut from the outside world with no phone power, no wifi, and no television. I was wrong all along. I was enslaved by the life’s pressuring elements that I missed looking and searching deep within myself like how I used to do when I was younger. During the three days of isolation from the busy world, I engaged myself to activities that were quite simple but made difference with the absence of internet interruption. It made all the differences as it let me focus more within myself than more of what’s happening outside. I missed doing those things as well. It brought a nostalgic feeling on the days back in my youth.

MEMORIES OF YESTERDAY

Over candle light I took my time to make a scrapbook and it got me sentimental as I looked for perfect pictures to use. All our printed photos were those taken when Keenan and I (and our parents too) were still young. Nowadays you’d find most pictures saved in the memory card or in FB, Flickr, Instagram and other photos storing apps. I’ve done several layouts before when I was still working for Filstar All About Scrapbooking. I looked again on those scrapbook pages with its personalized and nostalgic appeal, those pictures that captured not only the memories of youth but the priceless emotions ... oh how times quickly flew by. I missed my childhood so much. I couldn’t help but be teary eyed while working on my new scrapbook page addition. It worth the night of cutting and pasting and squinting to those little gracious lights provided by the candle as the good and happy memories rushed back and made my heart glad. The warm candle lights added to the senti atmosphere that embraced me while working on the page -- oh what a lovely nigh of reminiscence.

MUSIC COLORS THE SILENT NIGHT

It has been dead quite in the entire place with no electricity to power up radio and television. It felt like I was in the province with the neighbouring teens gathering outside while holding a guitar and serenading the street under the moonlight. In the silence of the night you’d hear their acoustic jamming – what a cool night to remember. You’d also hear the sounds of children’s voices playing on the street which you’d rarely hear now since gadgets and online games have already taken their full attention and interests. They sounded like giggling cherubins playing happily, too much immersed to their young world. It made me missed my childhood all the more.

BOOKS AND BOOKS AND BOOKS

I’d been a reader ever since but other activities often got in the way which made me delay my reading: works, chatting obligations with friends, follow ups, deadlines, etc. But when the power was out I indulged myself on it. When I was young and started to engage myself in novels I was so addicted that my mother worried I might gone insane. Sometimes it would cause our fight ending up with her threatening me to burn and throw away all my books. That would be quite funny to remember now but just imagine how resentful I was feeling back then. During those three days of being secluded from the busy, hurly burly world, I spent my time in reading; searching for spot where there was enough lighting. I got two books at hand with one old, dilapidated dictionary – Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes and Herman Melville’ Moby Dick, the dictionary was for Moby Dick since there were lots of big words in there that I needed to consult with Mr. Webster from time to time.

CONVERSATION WITH FAMILY

This I neglected doing when I was years younger than my age today (oh let’s skip the numbers) but not anymore when it dawned in me that our parents wouldn’t be there for us forever. For those three days of blackout I’d been more active in pressing conversations and we both enjoyed it over meals, over cup of coffee, over anything that we were doing in a particular moment. These past few years my parents have been too occupied with their studying and I too, has been busy with works. The last three days have granted us the opportunity to bond again with no pressing works to finish. Just like the old days when Keenan and I were children and mama and papa used to tell story and play with us -- we lived the moments then in pure simplicity.

All it took was three days for me to relieve back the beauty of old days and remember the things that really matter. Memories never get old indeed; it forever lives within us – young and carefree. . . Long live the memories!