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Thanks to Gloria Arroyo’s holiday economics, one of her legacies that made me genuinely and sincerely pleased, I was able to go home once again to our province up north last weekend.

And as usual, this post is not a travel log. During the rare occasions when I’m in my one real home, I’m more than happy just spending time inside the house with my parents, eating Ilocano vegetable dishes or having native delicacies as merienda. I can bore you with my stories of doing house chores, watching TV, especially the local newscast, and catching up on my movie and book backlogs.

But in those three days, I’ve tried something I haven’t done in a long time, and that is doing nothing. I didn’t think of work, I didn’t think of the bills, I didn’t think of the multitude of other things that are waiting for my attention once I get back to the city. It was a period of mind rest for me, just living in the moment and not bothering my brain with any kind of past or future thought. (I even tried getting myself into my personal internet rehab, but mobile twitter was just irresistible, haha).

It was relaxing. Every day, I’d wake up inside the room I grew up in, feeling fully rested. I’d wake up to a wonderful breakfast with things plucked out from my father’s garden, on that very morning. My father also had a bahay kubo built where we’d stay whenever we want to, just to chat and drink Coke and Sparkle in little 8 oz. bottles. Neighbors would pass by, selling us their homemade food products. When I need to run, I have our dog as my running buddy, and when it’s raining outside, I’d stay in bed reading with the iPod on, and with our cat as my warmer. At night, I’d open my our back door and just listen to the crickets while I stare up the sky, fill my lungs with feel-good provincial air, and do nothing but follow what my senses would like to perceive.

I am thankful I have a faraway small town to come home to. It is where life is easy and simple. It is where I can run to and just hide from whatever it is I need hiding from, haha. It is where I feel relaxed and carefree. Right now, it is the only place I know where I can be young or old, dirty or clean, lazy or overworked, active or idle, all of the above or none of the above, and it’s perfectly all right.