6 months old a day after an earthquake

The day Malaya turned another month old was a day after an earthquake shook Central Visayas. 
The quake hit at around 8 am.

And while our old wooden apartment shook, equipment glass and whatever falling everywhere, the boy laughed as if this was all a game.

Meanwhile, I was downtown wondering what sort of end of the world movie set I'd stepped onto.

It's just been one thing after another. Lolo Rudy's train arrived earlier this month, which is why his daughter (Mamita) and one of his sons (Lolo Drigo) came home from the US.

And while it has been a trying time for Christian's family, the little boy was busy turning frowns upside down for his Villa relatives.

Malaya with Aunties Shani, Danielle and Robyn

Mamita and Malaya finally IRL

Daddy Christian was Lolo Rudy's first grandson, and said a few words at the wake about the impact the old man had on his career choices.

Rodolfo Villa, the first of his name.

RIP Lolo Rudy, I didn't know you, but thank you for your contribution to the small one's gene pool. 

Your loved ones miss you and loved you.

And then just 5 days after Lolo Rudy and Daddy Christian's birthday, on Ninang Sam's birthday, the earthquake happened.

Where I was standing,  people were on their cellphones, trying to call loved ones. I'd just gotten off the phone with Chris, who told me they were fine. I was frantically looking for a place where I'd see clear skies. I was afraid one of the buildings might fall on me. I was also afraid that if I walked home, something might fall on me. The only place you could stand in this building pastiche without any potential falling objects looming over you was the gas station. It took me a full song-length to figure I was standing on the worst possible place during an earthquake. Tough luck.

When I finally got myself a vacant cab, the cabbie asked me how I was doing and where I was when the quake hit. He said he couldn't get anything from the radios as electricity was shut down everywhere. He was nervous. He, as if talking to himelf, said he needed to get home quick to check on his family. Of course. He dropped me off and sped off. I found the boy downstairs with the other tenants and the landlady's family having buco pandan and laughing at his antics. Someone got the AM radio on and listened for more news, only to hear more gloom. The tough part about an earthquake is nobody knows when another one's going to strike. Then Mamita arrived in Uncle Mark's trooper and drove us up to the airport. Thank you Providence, for relatives with cars. Lol.

The airport had been reshuffled that day. All domestic flights had been transferred to another building, and all the passengers were supposed to squeeze into a tiny entrance. It was chaotic. People everywhere were complaining of missed flights and waiting on the lawn for hours after their flights had left. Airline representatives were out and trying their best to calm their customers down. And then it started to rain. Hard. We made like Scooby Doo and ran for the hills.

Up at Uncle Mark's house in Maria Luisa, we waited for the aftershocks to subside. Electricity had never been cut up there and Mamita wanted to make the most of her time with Malaya. We camped it out in style, breaking fast on corned beef and sausages and wondering how things were down below.

Pinoy, level: calamity.

Our information about how people were doing came from facebook. Nobody expected anything like this to happen to Cebu and Bohol. Before this, Cebu was pretty chill. No, scratch that. We've had serious flooding these past few years. No real storms, just a few inches of rain and unscrupulous tree shaving to make way for subdivision space in the uplands. This earthquake tho was completely unexpected. A previously unknown fault line rose out of Bohol, like a magical wall. Except tectonic plate shifts aren't supposed to be magic. Or are they? Dumdumdumdum.

Our friends from Bohol are alive, their houses tho, not so much.

Also, did I mention Mamita brought a box full of baby loot? We're in the process of sorting out what he needs and doesn't need and what we can give to the babies of Bohol and Cebu.

Other visitors this month included Lola Lisa who helped start Malaya's college fund. Thank you Lola and Lolo Eli!

~~~

Milestones:

He is starting to sit up on his own. Crawling on his hands and knees doesn't seem too far away either because he's started lunging forward and bouncing while on his knees. He's also putting things in his mouth with both hands now.

He's been playing a lot of peek-a-boo games and sits still and listens when Lola Nanay tells him action-packed stories about what happened when Mr. Turkey met Mr. Duck.

It wasn't pretty.