my kind of town (part 1)

Last weekend was one of the most intensely happy of my life.

Nanay, my brother D, his college age daughter L, and I flew to Chicago for the annual family reunion and for Nanay's surprise belated 80th birthday soiree. Other siblings, in-laws, and a nephew flew or drove in from northern California, Missouri, and Florida. We all converged at my sister B's house in the southwest suburbs and almost immediately the festivities, the sweet chaos, the electric warmth, and the wild breadth of love began. Karaoke and video gaming were the main sources of entertanment, as was the infinite drinking of beer, rum, Jameson shots, and frozen drinks, and far, far too much Filipino food.

Somehow I was designated the bartender by my nieces, nephews, and nephews' girlfriends and I had no complaints whatsoever. I made my first sangria and it turned out to be very good, but it was mostly my oldest sister Y and I who drank it. N, who is my nephew H's girlfriend and the mom of my grandniece M, was holding up a mango and wanted to make a daiquiri. I said I'd do it, even though I had never made one. I looked it up online and found it was too easy. It turned out marvelous. After that I made my first frozen margarita from scratch. It was the authentic version, quit sour from the fresh lime juice. Unfortunately my sister didn't have any kosher rock salt so I had to use regular table salt to rim the glasses. Still, it was tasty.

My brothers and brothers-in-law were being extreme as always. You should meet them. It's not often they get together, but when they do the very first thing they do is get drunk and eat tons of peanuts (typically Filipino) and catch up on each others' lives. This time, though, it was all about the karaoke. It was a moment, you should've been there. Just imagine a bunch of Filipino guys - nurses, mathematicians, and scientists - drunk and belting out charmingly bad renditions of 50s rock n roll, 60s r&b, and 70s rock with their tipsy wives and sisters egging them on and even providing backup and dancing.

You see, we are not the typical Filipino-American family. We can never, even if we tried, be tight-assed and stuffy as the others. Many Filipinos in the U.S. seem to try acclimating a little too much, and not wisely. Trying to be white or WASPY or upper class is, we deem with a hearty laugh, 'below us'. We love life and embrace it wholesale. We are us, and we don't know how, nor do we want to be, anything else but. I think that's a part of my late Dad's philosophy. Just be happy, and enjoy what you worked for and deserve.

I had absolutely no desire to be anywhere else in the universe but there with them, at that moment, with the chaos, the spontaneity, and the karaoke machine . Absolutely no desire to be anywhere else at all.