Something to write about...

I really don't like family gatherings.
Is it bad? I'm sorry, let me rephrase it.
I really don't like some family gatherings.
Why?
Because they are just the same.

I woke up Monday morning and found my mother, aunts, and cousins already cleaning the house and cooking food. I thought, "oh yeah, our relatives are coming today. Damn."
Ever since I was a kid, I was reluctant to face our relatives. It's not that I'm afraid of them, actually I have this feeling that they're kind of intimidated by me. I just don't like the way they'd greet us.

"Aba, talaga namang hindi kayo pinapabayan ng nanay nyo ha," one will say with that nasty grin.
"Ito na ba si Marisse? Aba'y mas malaki pa sa'yo ah," another will say with the same nasty grin.

And then as the day goes on, and I swear that this happens every single family gathering, one particularly annoying relative would ask and say, "may boyfriend ka na ba?" I would shake my head, dying with exasperation. "Aba, wala. Wag kang mag-alala. Meron din dyang makakapansin sa'yo," this particularly annoying relative would say. Then she would nudge herself closer to me in that conspirational fashion and would stage an ill-disguised whisper, "pero syempre kailangan magpa-payat ka pa ng konti, hehehe.." then she'll go on about her daughter having 10 suitors and not knowing what to do. Yadayadayadayada...

It's the same thing over and over again I'm sick of it all.

I'm sick of the pretending.
I'm sick of the boasts.
I'm sick of the taunts.
I'm sick of all those dieting conversations that I don't want, thank you very much.

I wonder when will they realize that I'm not like them who value appearance the most. (though, it's not apparent when you see them, believe me)
I don't want to be skinny. Albeit I admit that I do want to loose a few pounds but I am not doing it because I want to have a boyfriend. (there's just this jeans that I can't resist but i need to shed an inch to fit in it=p)
I am doing it for myself.

They always do that. My Tita suffers the same fate every gathering. She's still single at the age of 43. An old maid, in short. But I don't understand why they can't understand that she's happy with her life even without a husband. Of course she would love to have a child of her own, but regardless, she's happy.

It's her choice. It's my choice. I don't need you telling me that I can't be happy being the way that I am. Because being thin doesn't mean that you are a better person. Let us be.

Oh, by the way, the particularly annoying relative who constantly boasts about her daughter is not exactly a person to be envied.
Her so-called "beautiful" daughter got pregnant at the age of 16 and is pregnant again with another guy's child. But this current father of her child is apparently not her present boyfriend either. What's funnier is that when she got interrogated by the whole family, she can't pinpoint who the father really is.

And I was there, at one corner, eating chocolate mousse cake.