The Road to 40 Day 25/365: Contemplating youthful friendships

This is one of those days that show me how my routines are on a daily basis.

With Che still away, it’s just me and Vino again. He didn’t get up as early as the previous day, but it wasn’t difficult to wake him up for breakfast.

My adobo was still enough for his lunch and then some, and the rice was enough for his breakfast and lunch. So the air fryer was on for chicken nuggets, the rice cooker for heating the rice, and the pan for adobo.

After I got all those prepared, I woke him up to eat his breakfast. I usually don’t eat or just eat his leftovers, but I needed to finish the leftover rice, so I took the remaining adobo and rice for breakfast.

Later, I took Vino to school as per usual.

I usually wait for him to be out of sight before I go. He would sometimes look back, but there are times that he doesn’t. I stay for the times that he suddenly thinks about looking back. I’d rather be there when he turns than leave just because I believe he won’t.

On this day, we saw his classmate as we were walking up the stairs. Dude immediately started talking to Vino, and even put his arm around him.

They walked like that all the way upstairs, and I don’t mind.

Sometimes, Che and I would talk about the possibilities of living elsewhere depending on opportunities that present themselves. While I have said that where she goes, I go, Vino is starting to develop some friendships of his own and he expressed to me that he would rather not move anywhere else.

I do feel bad if we have to uproot him from the friends he establishes. However, looking back, I don’t have friends from his age.

Social media has changed that, and I sometimes connect with my old friends, but they’re not at the top of my list if I set up an intimate birthday celebration.

I’m not saying it can’t happen. I see my old friends get together through their social media updates. Vino could very well have lifelong friends from his current crew, for all I know.

But I feel like it’s not too deep yet at this point that it may be easier to let go.

It might be tough for Vino, because it’s not the kind of life he would want to choose, but what he enjoys about his life is precisely because of all the sacrifices Che has to make. Moving with Che to wherever work takes her is a small sacrifice that we have to make.

I do love that Vino endears himself to other kids quite easily. He’s silly, funny, and just fun to be around. He has friends from other year levels and other classes just because of his personality.

Because of how I see him treat his friends and how his friends treat him, I am confident that he’ll find new crews wherever he goes.

People might not believe that I was a shy boy growing up, but I was. I’m happy that Vino got to know this version of me so he has a bit more confidence at his age to create connections I wouldn’t have when I was eight.

I picked up a very tired Vino from school. He said they had two games in football club and he didn’t have much energy while sitting on the cab.

I asked him to rest a bit while I dealt with my natural enemy – folding laundry.

I built up another mountain as I put off folding about four batches of laundry. Today was the day I conquered it.

Sometimes, I would like to retire some clothes just because it looks too much, but then I realized that if I put off folding clothes, I may not have anything to wear at some point of the week.

I’ll revisit my closet again soon and Kondo it somehow.

Dinner was quick, as I only had to grill the chicken and we were done. I saved one marinated thigh for Vino’s lunch the next day.

Hump day next day, we’re excited to get past it as we are three sleeps away before Che comes back.

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