I grew up in a middle class household in the Philippines. I had the things I needed and then some. My mom owned a store and my dad worked for a bus company. We always had food on the table and I was happy with what I had.
My dad finished high school and my mom had a few years of elementary schooling. So, growing up, my mom always encouraged us to study well. She wanted us to finish university. She said that when we do that, we can buy anything we want and go anywhere we desire.
I did very well in school. Because studying is all I had to do. My mom never required me to help with household chores, she just told me to focus on my studies, so that is what I did.
This is a story about Pringles, Gummy Bears and chocolates. Snacks that I only had once in a blue moon growing up. And how it inspired me to finish university.
I had a friend who’s mom works in Hawaii. So a few times a year she would receive a Balikbayan box from her mom. A Balikbayan box is a package sent by Filipinos who work overseas to their families back home. This is filled with toys, clothes, chocolates, snacks and other random things from stores abroad. She had invited me to their house a few times and she would open a can of green Pringles. She would give me a few chips and I used to bite on those very delicate chips slowly, I would savor every piece it. I thought to myself, when I grow up, I will buy a truckload of Pringles and eat all of it.
The same friend would bring Gummy Bears to school. During recess, me and my classmates would line up in front of our classroom and she’ll be handing us a few of those beautifully colored gummies. Because I didn’t know when I’ll have them again, I would bite the already small Gummy Bears a little bit at a time lol!
I had another friend who had sisters who worked as nurses in the States. So his family also gets a balikbayan box. In their house they had a drawer filled with chocolates. When my friends and I go for a visit, he would open a few bars and give us some. I would let those chocolates melt slowly in my mouth and think to myself again, when I grow up lol, I will buy loads of chocolate and eat them to my heart’s desire.
We also had a neighbor, who’s dad was a truck driver. So on his trips to the big cities, he would buy his kids chocolates and snacks that we don’t have in our small town. One Christmas, they gave me and my sister Kisses chocolates. They were packaged inside this clear green Christmas tree plastic mold. It was one of the best gifts I have received growing up. I think I kept that plastic container for a long time lol.
Finally, now that I am all grown up and making a decent living, I can buy all these things that I used to just dream of. I once called my friend when I was at a grocery store around Christmas time. I was going through the chocolate aisle and I said to her, “I can actually buy all these chocolates here, if I want”. She burst out laughing. I can also now buy all available flavors of both Pringles and Gummy Bears. And I can have them all until I have a bellyache lol!
But, ironically, I won’t. Because now I have become a health nut. I am following a low-carb diet on most days. Pringles, Gummy Bears and chocolates have one thing in common, carbs!. Lol, so there you go, by the time I was capable of fulfilling my dreams, I didn’t want them anymore. I buy and enjoy them once in a while but I no longer have the desire to buy loads of them. I have outgrown my dream!
I may have sounded like I had a sad childhood not having these things all the time before, but I did not. It’s the opposite. I grew up very content. Instead, these desires gave me extra inspiration to do well in school and finish university so that one day, I will be “able” to buy anything I want, like what my mom said.
And she was right.
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