Families and Welcomes and Warm Cups.

Today, James whisked me away to his place to celebrate his Dad's birthday. Today has been a good day to us.

This morning though might've begged to differ, (considering an unexpected heavy delay on James' part and, um, my mom's atrocious ribbing and her sharp 3pm curfew on mine) but we pushed through the experience fine. We managed to bargain another hour more, and James estimated it'd be just enough to pick up Asis and Llaneta from the Shop, head on to his house, have lunch, and speed me home soon as we were done. And for that, we were grateful.

My man has the ability to see situations in perspectives I'd never see myself. I love him so.

Soon as we picked up the two other Jameses from the Shop, we hailed a Project 8 jeep on a one-way trip right to the gate of Santa Perpetua Village. We soon arrived at the house's gate, a 32-seater jeep from Pangasinan parked up front, a few willowy ladies hanging around a huge empty wok bottom-blacked from a charcoal fire, and a pack of burly, swarthy men hunched over a poker game and some bottles of beer. We as a pack were greeted with warm smiles, although interestingly, as a couple, the smiles we were given had a hint of pleasant quizzicalness and curiosity.

It felt good to address Tita Espie (James' Mom) with a mano. From now on, it's so.

The dining table was quite a sight. Menu for the afternoon: grilled milkfish of an arm's length, ensaladang puso ng saging, kaldereta, ubod ng punong buri, sweet and sour pork, fried chicken, and the best dish in the house -- pinapaitan with a hint of spice. I could taste the kindness in the humble bitter fare, welcoming and warm.

On the lighter side of things, kinapalan ko na ang mukha ko at nanghingi ng pabalot ng pagkain, syempre with James' go signal. The food was just so good.

A few interesting momments with James' kin.
- An aunt of James passed by the table, and an exchange of introductions and smiles happened. A few minutes later, James caught that she said, after she conferred with two other cousins over the kitchen sink, that he and I looked alike. *blush*

- Earlier after introductions, the same aunt smilingly said, "Aaaah. Maganda pala. Kahit na... medyo... Magkapareho kami ng katawan." About ten minutes later. the birthday celebrant Tito Vangie came in, and James introduced me to him for the first time. He quiped. "Bakit payat?", followed with a hearty laugh. To both of these, I replied, "Gifted lang po, gafted lang po tayo." (To which James whispered, "Oh, so is that what they call it nowadays?" Poke in ribs. ^_^)

- I've observed that James has his father's nose, and his mother's cheeks and lips.

Lunch came and lunch went, and we had to say our goodbyes. Mano sa Tito, mano sa Tita, and off we went. I never expected the occassion and the clan to be so warm, so welcoming, and so happy. It was no different, I think, from the elder-folk birthday get-togethers of my side of the family, but then again, altogether different as well. If there is anything I enjoyed more than the food today, it was his family. That I can whole-heartedly say.

And James goes, "Oh no, you ate my family!" XP

On his side of things, he told me while he was showing the guys the Super Robot Wars J on his PC, "I turn to the dining area and see, 'Oh no, the family's swarming her! ... No, they're fawning over her.' " I just melted. On MRT and bus and foot, he brought me home, fiften munutes early.

Today was just the thing I needed. I guess I just really needed to be with him, and I got much, much more than what I had bargained for: his family. And that's a wonderful, wonderful thing to receive, on days like this.

And my steps feel so much, so much lighter now.