the price of a happy childhood

juancho had just come from a playdate with friends when i interviewed him.

me: did you have fun?

juancho: yes!

me: did you play with their toys?

j: yes!

(he's a 5-year-old boy of few words. when i ask him what he learned in school that day, he usually replies with, 'i forgot.')

me: what kind of toys did they have?

j: EXPENSIVE TOYS!!!

when i called his mother (mah sistah) later on about how they were teaching their children the wrong values (haha. kidding. i just called to ask if she had a pedicure lately), she said she didn't know why juanch knew that the toys were expensive. he was right, too. maybe he's a prodigy. i should find a way to get him on 'the price is right'.

when i was a kid, whatever toys i DIDN'T have were the expensive toys. i think my costliest toy was a small, pink 'my melody' rubber ball from sanrio. from gift gate in greenhills.

SANRIO! GIFT GATE!!!

if those words don't trigger a happy flood of memories, you're: (1) too young; (2) too old; (3) not a filipino who grew up in manila; or (4) a leech on its deathbed. (sorry, the leech story was such a hit, i had to mention it again.)

i remember smelling that pink ball a lot because it smelled of EXPENSIVE TOY. or maybe it just made me HIGH? i was too young to know. maybe i DID have an ecstatic childhood after all.