It took almost two months to finally sink in. All along I have been so busy starting a new life in El Paso, Texas: getting my state ID and social security cards, opening bank accounts and wireless phone plans, at the same time trying to be good at the very first job I ever had.
One late Friday night in September of 2003, I was doing my laundry when out of nowhere I just became very homesick and sad. I suddenly just felt so lonely and I thought at the time that it was because I was there by myself, doing my own laundry, fending for myself. I thought I’ve been holding my homesickness and acting as if I’ve been well-adjusted to my new situation, but that it finally blew up.
Looking back now, that night I was doing my laundry was probably emblematic of what’s about to come: there have been plenty of times I had to adapt and adjust, wash away my old and rigid behaviors to live in the present and to understand the future. I cry about the thought of leaving the past behind. But sometimes, in order to make it through the day and the next, all I gotta do is wipe the tears dry, smile and just move along.
DB Caguioa 