I love food. To eat and to cook. It seems my eldest son Bryan took after me. He’s studying to be a chef. Jonathan, my youngest, told me a few months ago he’d also like to be one. He’s 12-years-old and the best fruit shake maker in the house. My middle son Niccolo has autism but he’s no laggard in the shake-making department, loves pasta and sinigang (talk about polar opposites) and knows a good French fry when he meets one. And my husband? PV loves food, too. Even if he can’t tell a tureen from a crock.
He’s the outdoorsy, try-just-about-any-sport type. Yang to my stay-indoors, bookworm yin. Bryan straddles the divide between our interests. He’ll wax philosophical at the oddest moments then take off with his friends for a spell at the gym or a cup of coffee or a late night at whatever passes for a party in that crowd. He’s certainly different from Jonathan who signed up for the Chess Club at school this year. And Niccolo? He recently learned how to surf the Internet. I don’t know if I’m proud or alarmed or a little of both. Yet despite these differences in our personalities and interests, we enjoy each other’s company. Especially if we keep company out of town. Or better yet, in another country. We just make sure that the bathrooms are clean.
Commonality. That’s what keeps the family together. We can have different likes and dislikes but somehow we always manage to find something in common that makes us happy to be with each other. It isn’t always easy. Sometimes we have to stretch quite a bit to find that commonality. The tie that binds. But find it we manage to do for the most part. And the rewards are well worth the extra effort.
Two years and three months ago, we gained a commonality of, shall we say, infatuation. We adopted a little girl and she’s been the apple of everyone’s eyes ever since. There are times I think the boys, my husband included, go overboard in their show of adoration for her. I admit I sometimes do so myself but, apparently, the male of the species can be reduced to a goo-goo eyed, puddle of mush when he goes into “cuddle and coddle the baby” overload. Not that I can blame any of them. Our girl is just too adorable for words. Especially when she blinks her innocent, button eyes, nuzzles us affectionately when we cradle her and sassily swishes her pert tail when she’s in the mood for love. Oh, did I mention she’s a Shih Tzu? No? Well then, allow me to introduce PV’s and my dogter Chibi. Our dogter, mind you, not our pet dog. Chibi is considered a part of the family and woe to anyone who suggests otherwise!
And now here’s another point in common for us. This will be our family’s shared blog. A journal of sorts chronicling our different thoughts on, well, anything. Vignettes. Slices of life. Food for thought (and also the edible kind). Something like that. And, oh yes, hello out there!
No comments:
Post a Comment