Fun Begins at 31

Mark had “ramos breakfast” with his troops after their road run last Friday morning. Then, he bought spaghetti sa bilao, buns, and soft drinks for his colleagues in the afternoon. Also, he treated his seniors with bottles of San Mig Light and steamed tahong as pulutan in the evening. That was just the onset of his 31st birthday celebration.

The next day, he woke me up with a kiss (as he always does) around 8am, and told me that he would bring me and my sister Jill (who’s staying with us) to NBC swimming pool, as promised. Yippie! And so, I cooked my “espesyal” pancit bihon. It’s good-humoredly called “espesyal” because my husband says that it’s neither salty nor sweet yet there’s something lacking in between. Whatever hubby! For me, it’s the yummiest pancit in the world. We also had boiled banana with latik, biko, and tinolang isda (bol-anon style). We were all set to go when suddenly, the heavy rain came! We were held up and ended up eating half of our baon. After an hour, it stopped and so we were revived.

I’m not a good swimmer, sad to say, but I know some strokes by heart. I wouldn't want to go deeper than 5 feet as I’m flustered when I couldn’t feel the ground under my feet. That’s why I admire people who can swim, I mean CAN really swim, like my husband. He’s my obliging coach but sometimes he pushes me beyond my limits.

Well, last Saturday, he was more patient to teach me nifty techniques. He gently urged me to come out from my comfort zone. Initially, I swam along the pool railings and reached the 6 feet area. Then, I freely made through the water and went wading into the 8 feet spot. Whew, that was quite an achievement for me!

Mark lectured me some physics afterwards. He told me that I have full control over the water if I really want to. All I need is to breathe in as much air as I can so that my body would expand and my density (mass/volume) will be lesser than the water’s density (1 kg/cubic meter); consequently, I would float to the surface. He mockingly added, “That’s law of buoyancy, baby!” Yeah right, navy man. Anyway, I proved to him that I was not amateurish anymore but I know I still have to exert more effort in overcoming my fear of depth. So, when can we go swimming again, honey?

Last Sunday, we invited a family friend over for lunch. This time, I cooked humba deliciously (i swear, my sister can’t get enough of it) while Mark prepared his mouthwatering kinilaw na dilis, sinugbang bangus and tulingan, and adobong baboy. We had a sumptuous meal! After Kuya Roger left, I helped Mark with his paperwork and finished until midnight.

All in all, it was a fun weekend!