Anytime now, we will be moving in to our condo unit in Ortigas, nothing fancy really, just a small one-bedroom unit, which we will soon turn into our new home sweet home, what with our little Justin in tow.

To date, we have made a total number of seven apartment/house/home transfers since Ed and I got married. In 1996, we lived in a studio apartment in Washington, Makati. A few moths after, we rented a house in Dasmarinas, Cavite in the same subdivision where my parents live. We moved to a bigger house within the same subdivision in a little more than a year’s time. When the owner’s son had to use the place, we had no other recourse but to move to my parents’ house several blocks away. In 2002, we finally had our own house in Tanza, Cavite. But with the rising cost of transportation and the tiring trip to and from the house and because we both work within the vicinity of Mandaluyong City, we decided to rent another studio unit near Crossing and had our house in Tanza rented out. Three years after that, we are finally moving in to our second home.

By now, I should have been used to the idea of transferring to a new place, but to be honest, I still get the jitters. It is not easy packing and unpacking things, considering what to bring to the new place and what to dispose of. And there is even no guarantee the pieces of furniture we bring to our new home are as good as the time they get hauled into the mover’s truck. Plus, everything costs a lot: from the boxes to the lipat-bahay truck to the tips you give to all the people who would help out in the transfer to all the appliances we need to purchase again.

Adjusting to the new place also takes time and effort. Now, we have to plan the week’s menu, check out what items need to be replenished at home every time we leave the house because unlike in our current apartment where the wet market is only a stone’s throw away, our new place is sprawled alongside other tall buildings where no sari-sari stores are allowed to operate. The nearest buying area in our place is the Robinson’s Supermarket.

The truth is I’m getting tired of all this moving in and out. I hope this is the last time we are going to do that. If, Heaven grants, we will be able to sell our house in Tanza, we plan to buy a house somewhere near, a bigger place for our son to roam around. But we do not have to transfer anything from our condo now to that house because we will be buying permanent things for the house just like what we are now doing for our condo unit.

I just wish for a smooth transfer and that we all get to adjust to the new surroundings in no time, especially my son. I hope he also gets to meet new friends and playmates there.

Last April 26-27, 2008, Justin finally had his first dip in the swimming pool. It was Ed’s annual summer outing at ADB, and this time, it was at the Club Balai Isabel Resort at Talisay, Batangas. There were six of us who went: Ed and I, Justin, Manang, my sister Meann, and her husband Orlan. We encouraged them (Meann & Orlan) to go with us because they have a car, which made it easier for Justin to travel all the way from their house at Laguna Bel-Air to the resort.

We were billeted in two rooms, with two beds apiece and each furnished with an aircon, a refrigerator, a kettle, glasses and plates, towels, and soaps and shampoos. We actually had the best place, I think, since the rooms we got were actually located in the villa where the owner of the resort actually resides, and that villa had its own swimming pool to boot aside from the resort’s main pool. So we had the swimming pool all to ourselves as if we were just having our own family outing. The place was also equipped with a barbecue area, and there were fruit-bearing trees everywhere: avocado, chico, Indian mango, kamias. We expected it to be a fun and memorable experience, especially for our youngling, but it turned out to be the complete opposite.

First, Justin was afraid to get in the pool. He had every reason to be because the kiddie pool beside the adult pool in the villa was actually filled with at least three feet of water. So he could not really stand in the pool with his head untouched by the water. He cried every time his dad attempted to carry him to the water. He ended up just wading his feet and sometimes lying on the excess water that flowed out from the two adjoining pools.

Second, the bathrooms only had a shower. Though we had a shower at home, I do not use that on Justin whenever I give him a bath. So the idea of a shower is actually alien to him. He actually went on a crying fit and bumped his head on the bathroom wall from trying to evade the water getting out of the shower. For a few days after the outing, Justin had been afraid to take a bath at home.

Finally, nearly a week after the outing, Justin contracted a fever. He was diagnosed to have throat and ear infections. The ear infections, according to his pediatrician, could have been caused by the “dirty water” from the pool that got into both his ears. He was given antibiotics and ear drops for that, but he ended up having loose bowel movements for one week as a side effect of his antibiotics.

Poor Justin! All we wanted was for him to have fun, but his first swimming experience turned out traumatic. It was memorable all right, but for all the wrong reasons. I could only hope for a better swimming treat for him next year.