Summer memories

I love summer! My fondest childhood memories happened during summer, that part of the year in the Philippines when school's out and every child is out on the streets or the beach for plain good time. For some lucky little ones, summer meant seeing Disneyland or horseback riding at Camp John Hay or maybe the old familiar merry-go-round at Fiesta Carnival. I didn't have that luxury. It was different in the town where I grew up.

The town up north is surrounded by water. Inevitably, every child's early memories involved water and anything associated with being near it -- sand, sun, shade. The most vivid memory I have were the quick picnics that my parents would suddenly call out. Instead of just having lunch at home seated at our designated places around the table, my mom would pack whatever was prepared, put them in a basket, and rush to ride my with us on my father's motorcycle. The favorite family spot was this little cove beside the road around two kilometers from town. After lunch meant basking in the sun swimming and screaming.



The funny part was I never learned how to swim. My dad would cradle me and teach me how to paddle my feet or float at least. I don't know, I never seemed to learn anything. We would do that weekly, and each time, I'd end up just stretching out silently on the shore and enjoyed being washed and watched.

Sixteen years later and a few weeks before I left my town for college in the city, I still didn't know how to swim.



Today, sixteen more years later, I have learned to move my feet under water and swim finally. I had to. I ride one of these boats four times weekly.