Blank Canvas

Chapter Fifteen

Summary: Talia, along with her Mom and sisters, visited her maternal grandparents in the province.

Our grandparents' home was a bungalow in the middle of a farm. In the huge yard, there were papaya trees, calamansi shrubs, lanzones trees and an imposing mango tree. Coming from the cramped and claustrophobic city life, going to the province was a breath of fresh air. That was an unintended pun. The farm was less than two hours away but the difference was palpable.

The sounds were not what my ears were used to. I did not remember the time that I heard birds chirping outside my window. It was so jarring and atypical that it woke me up. You could count the trees that you would see in a day in the city. Birds were also a rare sight in the metropolis. Also, everyone seemed relaxed in the province. Even the pets were laid-back. One of my grandparents' dogs was sprawled on a woven mat on its back, waving with its furry paws to anybody that would pass by, begging for a belly rub.

In the city, everyone moved fast. If you did not, you would get left out.

When I was five years old, my grandfather won the lottery. He was a working as a public school teacher at that time, while my grandmother was a social worker. When he won, he did not quit his job. He continued teaching until he turned sixty. Instead, he saved most of the money for our education. Our lives changed when my grandfather hit the jackpot. It did not become lavish but it did become more comfortable. Secured, in a way. We used to live in a small apartment next to an animal clinic. Mom and Dad used to worry about our college education. Now, we are financially stable. It was kind of surreal but that was what happened. Three years after the lottery win, my grandparents bought the farm. When they retired, they moved out of the city permanently and they never looked back.

We went home for two things. First, it was our grandparents' anniversary. They have been married for fifty years. Second, Mom wanted to tell them about her engagement to Tim. She called them before but nothing could beat face-to-face good news, as she had said. We would spend the entire weekend there.

I went into the kitchen and found my grandparents. They were eating breakfast. They asked me to join them and before I knew it, Lolo gave me a plate full of scrambled eggs, pan de sal with kesong puti and a cup of hot cocoa. I said no to the dried tawilis. I kissed them both on the cheek and wished them a happy anniversary.

"Lolo," I said as I chewed on my soft bread. "How does it feel to be married for almost fifty years?"

My grandfather smiled at me. "It's the same as the first year," he answered. "Except that your joints are not as limber as before."

My grandmother sat next to me with a cup of aromatic tea. "Talia, your grandfather is messing around. Every relationship changes with time and age but in marriage, it's not necessarily the union itself that gets a changeover but the persons in that relationship."

I swallowed a spoonful of perfectly cooked eggs. "What do you mean?"

"To put it simply, the longevity of a bond rests on the variability of the people involved in it."

I sipped thoughtfully and said nothing.

My grandmother continued, "There have been multiple research on what exactly is the key to a working marriage and it's almost always three things. Trust, time, and talk."

My grandfather, who was in a short-sleeved white Henley shirt, stood up and smilingly complained that we were getting too scientific about marriage, which he claimed was absolutely non-scientific in nature. After he deposited his empty cup in the sink, he turned to me. His face was the way that I remembered it. It was wrinkled with lines and sprinkled with light brown spots but the one thing that would remain was the benevolent smile and the effervescent expression in his eyes.