About this time every year, many of us try to recollect personal and family experiences during the year which is about to end. It is also now that we renew resolutions and express hope and wishes for the coming year.
As has been our family tradition, our family, on my wife Mira’s side, usually meets for a Christmas lunch get-together. During our last big get-together, attendees consisted of representatives from four generations, ages ranging from 8 to 80.
But this year, we will have to do with a virtual reunion scheduled at 11 a.m., Dec. (Manila time). We are expected to be joined by relatives from California and Arizona.
Let me recollect our wish list during earlier normal times. During one Christmas get-together, my daughter Frannie presided over a parlor game which she called “Bayong List.” It consisted of each attendee listing down three wishes (in the order of preference) and dropping them in a tiny bayong. The attendees were grouped into three which each group trying to correctly guess the person whose wish list was being read. The group with the most correct answers won a special prize.
We had so much fun trying to guess and later discovering who made the wish list being read. On a personal level, I felt much closer to my relatives after knowing a little more about what they wished and aspired for.
As enumerated below, a good many expressed their wish to travel. But some surprised us with their “secret” desires.
Here is what the Bayong List revealed:
Foreign travel: Travel around the world with family, a multi-country trip with best friend, live in the countryside in Japan, visit New York, visit Europe, go to Israel, go to North Africa, go to South America, and go to Morocco.
Special purpose travel: Walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and taste different beers around the world.
Exotic travel destinations: Visit the Aztecs, trip to Bhutan, and trip to Nepal.
Special places: Oregon Gravity Falls and visit former Nazi concentration camps.
Local travel: Travel all over the Philippines and go to Batanes.
High adventure: Go to Antarctica, climb Mount Everest, and do the UTMB (Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc).
Ultra sports: Join the Tour de France, try mixed martial arts, and try sky-diving.
Other sports: Try out in Junior NBA, play as a rookie in a university, ride 100 kilometers on bike, and go sailing.
Want to watch: First International Hong Kong Race with Tim Yup, watch NBA game live with family, watch OKC game, and watch Potomac Labrador show.
Secret passion: Be a Victoria Secret model, sing in front of an audience, to be able to sing a tune, dance in public, learn ballet, and dance Argentinian tango.
Want to meet: Harry Styles and Kobe Bryant.
Want to own: A 1965 red convertible Mustang, a Subaru Impreza, and more dogs.
Want to ride: Ride the Concorde, flight deck ride on an Airbus A380, ride the PNR with friends, and ride a glider plane.
Other wants/wishes: To write a book (completed twice), to work with especially impaired children (done two twice), to ride a bicycle, to see snow, to swim with dolphins.
How one unforeseen event can change all our plans in an instant! If we were to play the same game today, I am sure each one will have only one wish – an end to this pandemic and a chance to once again live normal lives.
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