Family Reunion

The annual family reunion was yesterday. It was an all day affair, starting off as a picnic and ending at my parents’ house. I was surrounded by family, whom, as I have been noticing lately; appeared to deteriorating in front of my eyes. Middle-aged uncles and aunties in wheel chairs, holding canes. Overweight and obesity. Diabetes and heart disease. This was what I will inherent. Makes me want to accept destiny and fold into the crop. I sat across from my grandma as a distant aunt, approached her and complimented her on the weight she lost. She looked at me and said, “She looks like a teenager.” I thought she was crazy. When my grandma was a teenager she was robust and full of energy. She’s always been “robust”. Born in the year of the ox, she’s stubborn and pushed her weight around with confidence. A force to be reckoned with. Now she’s one-third of herself. Years of being “robust” has gifted her an old age of heart disease and diabetes. I looked at her plate, and it was completely covered with the dull colours of meat. No green or red or orange of vegetables. By her side was the ever present can of diet Coke. (Since she was diabetic, she had to go diet). Afterwards she stood up and piled a plate of pastries. This puzzled me, because I knew she couldn’t taste worth crap, yet her sweet tooth remains. The sweet tooth that I had inherited…

I did good and bad. At the picnic I had one serving of meat, one serving of rice, and two servings of salad. My downfall was the sweet tooth. I must have eaten three servings of chocolate chip cookies and brownies. I decided to take my 4-year-old son and my 7-year-old nephew on a short hike, to keep myself away from temptation. And when I had to feed the baby and put her to sleep, I didn’t rush back. I was being anti-social, but I didn’t care. I missed out on the halo-halo (milk, ice, ice-cream, bean, and fruit preserve dessert), but it was okay.

At my mom’s house, it took a while for the food to arrive (restaurant-bought Filipino food and leftovers from the picnic). And when some did, everyone was still full from the picnic, so no one started eating immediately and the food were covered with tin foil. I, on the other hand, was hungry because I had eaten a moderate amount. What were readily available were chips and desserts. I snacked on some cookies to stave off my hunger. In the family room, my sisters and immediate cousins were eating chips while watching T.V. I decided to sit with my more distant cousins in the living room whom weren’t eating anything. After a while, I decided to start eating before everyone else. There’s only so much hunger I can take before chowing down on an unreasonable amount of desserts. Unfortunately, there were no vegetables in sight, but I was able to be satisfied with a serving of meat and rice. I then occupied myself with karaoke and playing with the kids. Later in the evening, my aunt came with the leftover platter of vegetables. I snacked on that.

So in the end, I did good and bad. Normally, I would be eating too much of everything that I would be feeling over-stuffed through out the day, but this time I was able to maintain a comfortable feeling. Despite, overeating on sweets, I was still happy with myself.

Small changes, my friend. Small changes. Rome wasn’t built in a day.