What is Cebu?

Although I am a proud Bisaya, I haven’t gone to Cebu in a long time.  Since April 2007, I have only gone home for 2 days – that is Dec 24 and 25 for my Christmas attendance. There are some days when I miss the beach but I don’t miss it that much to actually buy a ticket to go back home.

Last weekend, I just realized it was my brother’s birthday, and I kinda missed him. So I took my son with me and flew to Cebu for the weekend.

They say that you realize how much you have changed when you go back home.  Well Cebu City is catching up with the times with new malls and building.  Although these developments are great, they didn’t impact me as much.  A mall is a mall, a club is a club.  You can find it in any city.  I wanted to go home to something else.

So I reconnected with my Queen City Toastmasters friends.  Oh do I miss our meetings and our practices before! They were part of my early 20s life.   I saw my uncles, aunts and cousins.  I was able to visit my 86 year old grandma and went to the house were I spent my childhood.  I went to the cemetery to visit my lolo and my uncle.  My lolo raised me to be the super Bisaya that I am now.   I also went to the Basilica de Santo Nino. As a Cebuana,  Sto. Nino hold. a special place in my heart.  I rode the multicab.  I ate lechon.  I reminisced. I reminisced back when I didn’t have so many things to think about, decisions to make.  I reminisced back when I thought that my world was just contained in Cebu.

So many things have changed, especially this past couple of years.  Life has become complicated and fast-paced.  The journey to  Cebu was not just a welcome respite but also a reminder for me that – I was born and raised in Cebu with the values of hardwork, simplicity and faith and, that no matter where I am  I have family and friends back in Cebu.

What is Cebu? Before, I used to visit Cebu once a month to go to the beach, go drinking and do shopping.  Cebu was for me fun and relaxation.  But now, after not visiting Cebu for a long time, I realized what Cebu is for me – my childhood, my roots, my family and my values.  And I’ll always bring it with me wherever the winds of fate cast me in this big world of ours.