ODDS OF EFFORTS
It’s our tradition. Everyone in our house renders 100 percent of their calorie burning to do general cleaning whenever my father comes home, which occasionally happens. Just like every household in the Philippines in welcoming their visitors, we ensure that everything is ’spic and span’ for our VIP visitors, whatever its spelling is, I’m not sure.
As usual, I was the late wakeupper of the family (what with the 5 hours gap between their 6 am and my 11 am, seriously.) Right after I gulped my ill-tasting saliva from a merely 6 hour slumber, I was disturbed by my mother’s raging hormones (nope, she wasn’t angry) who was cooking pork adobo and bought 2 Coke litros from a sari-sari store, knowing her wallet only contained 150 pesos borrowed from her kumare. The curtains were already been replaced. Our bedsheets and pillows changed colors (while I was still sleeping, mind you). Mom’s really preparing for his homeward, I thought. I just smiled and smiled more that I unknowingly poured a glass and a half of Coke in my Tupperware tumbler.
My recycled Jag shirt was fuming vinegar and sweat when I left the room, so I decided to take a shower and scrub away my libag (dead skin cell deposits). But at the midst of my leg rinsing, mom droned at the small window of our bathroom.
“Neil, maglinis ka ng banyo… “ (Clean the bathroom, Neil.) Later, she knocked at the door and left a pack of Wings detergent and a big bottle of Zonrox bleach at the doorstep. The big brush has already been prepared underneath the lavatory.
It really is my very first time to clean our bathroom after all these 10 years of my cozying on haphazard floor sweeping and appliance dusting. Mom always does the chores. Our house is small to require great effort to clean the whole vicinity, but I prevailed not to exert effort greater or nearer to my mom’s routine of doing all the household cleaning. I thought, it’s just the bathroom, not the master’s bedroom. I’ll take charge of all these lime, mold and mildew…
It wasn’t a difficult task. I was not worrying if the bleach might be accidentally sprinkled on my clothes. Yeah you’re right, I was naked when I scrubbed the bathroom tilework and ceramics. Naked that I have to wear my glasses before doing the job (I was not yet finished rinsing when Mom pleaded). Imagine, me and my naked sexy body wearing brown plastic eyeglasses. (I’m having seizures right now. Thud thud thud)
The bathroom was cleaned by me alrighty, thanks to the bleach that was already been spread out before I entered the bathroom in the first place. However the scrubbing was so spontaneously stressful to me, I still have pains on my upper back and (budding) biceps (thank you dumbbells 
).
But I cared the least. Who cares about the stress and tiresome chores if, for almost 4 years, Dad was coming home?
And now, he’s here. And my digicam. And my ultra thin watch. And my piano. And my mp3 player.
What? Of course. As well as his presence, more importantly.
First Digicam pic - My brother Teri, Mommy, and my sleepless Daddy
