Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you had a good holiday.
I'm already checked-in for tomorrow's flight home and have completed all other travel requirements. All that's left is to actually pack my bag and get a good night's sleep.
In addition, I've been trying to prep the nephews that I'll be leaving tomorrow, and this news has largely been ignored or outright refused. This is one of my shorter stays in Singapore, and normally, we'd try to prepare them sooner - like 2-3 days before the flight. But since yesterday was all about Christmas Eve and giving presents, it wasn't the best time to tell them we were all leaving soon. When I told them that I'll be flying home, but argued with their respective variations of saying I should stay in their house instead.
There's no denying that my life is back in Manila. My limited circle of friends is there. O Bar is there. And as much as I appreciate Singapore, it never quite feels like a place I'd want to live full-time. But the one thing that tears me apart is being far away from my sister and her family. It was already quite bittersweet whenever I'd have to say goodbye to her. But now her kids are of an age where they fully understand what it means for Uncle Rocky to fly in and out several times a year. We get to have actual conversations, and they better appreciate the gifts I give them. I play Minecraft with them via LAN, and we build things out of magnetic building blocks together, and all these other little things. And the past two nights, the younger one has asked me to sleep in their bed, which has resulted in me waiting in the dark until they're both asleep before I can step away to finish blogging and sleep in my own bed.
It was one thing to be limited to seeing them in photos and videos while they were infants or non-speaking toddlers. But now they're really coming into their own with very distinct (and strong) personalities and different demands of me. I think I've heard "Uncle Rocky" called out more times this one trip versus the rest of the year, which just tells you how things have progressed despite being a largely remote uncle. So it's even sadder knowing that I have to go home and not be around to fulfill whatever Uncle duties are called for this time around. I know I'll be back in a few months and we'll just pick things up where we left off. But every time I come back, they're just that much taller and further along their development paths to be slightly different individuals.
Apparently, there's a kiddie version of Messenger that allows them access to chat and call specific contacts. The older nephew now has me on his contact list and I reminded him that he can call me anytime, and he did so right before bed (even though we were in the same room). The younger one has already gotten used to asking his mom to call me and that triggers the need to show him Transformers from my collection or for me to appreciate whatever he wants to show me. We make it work despite the distance. It's all that can be done given the circumstances.
I'm flying home tomorrow. I'll have to try to make the most of whatever time I have left with them before it's time to go to the airport.
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