Homesick

B, as usual, climbed into bed with me as he woke up this morning. He was happy and cheerful, at first, but as he listened to me and O talking about some of our relatives back home, he grew silent.

Then, after a pause in the conversation, he turned to me and said earnestly, "Nanay, I still miss all my friends in the Philippines." Then his little face crumpled in emotion as he tried to hold back his tears, to no avail. Then, an appeal: "Can you please give me money so I can go back and see them again?" He then sobbed freely on my shoulder, each shudder breaking my heart into tiny little pieces.

I tried to console him as dry-eyed and as best as I could, not wanting this to be the start of his day, which was gloomy, stormy, windy and grey enough to begin with. I tried to make him tell me the names of all his cousins and friends, and to say a prayer for each one. Doing this always used to make him feel better in the 14 homesick months we have been away. But, today, this time, he was inconsolable. He kept asking me when we can go home to see our friends again.

I bit my lip. I felt homesick, too. But I knew we couldn't save enough to afford the trip this year. So I did what any sensible mother would do in that situation.

I said, "Go down and ask your tatay."

Tee hee hee :D