“Togetherness!” my late mom would vigorously remind (or admonish) us during family reunions. More accurately, she said this in Ilocano, “Awan ti togetherness!”
To her, it was a felony not to participate in all activities—away shopping, or napping, or talking on the phone, or even staying in a corner reading—because we only had a day or two in a year to be together.
Mama would have been ecstatic, with no chance to remind us in a bugcaw (loud, emphatic pitch) about togetherness. At our last family reunion, we held hands every step of the way.
By family I mean my four siblings and moi, plus our individual units. One of us is in Australia, but we were complete. He was with us through GC via photo exchanges. With technology today, can you tell who was not physically present?
Twenty members of our units are likewise abroad, but were present in cyberspace.
My niece caught my youngest brother and me (despite a 10-year age gap) intensely debating a non-issue over the loud restaurant noise, made noisier by Tony singing oldies, because the official singer wasn’t inspiring togetherness.
We had a one-year-old and an 81-year old in the same rooms, and no generation gap intervened.
Awan ti togetheress? See for yourself.
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