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| This is a local lady we met during our stopover in Banaue, Lia. She’s beautiful, ain’t she?
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Hello, Lia.
I am somewhere in Solano, between the deep, dark navel of the mountains and the bright, enticing lights of McDonalds. We’re taking a break because the driver has been steering and turning the wheel for 8 hours now.
I am eating cheeseburger, my last taste of modern commodity for the next two days. Where I sit, there’s a painting on the wall that says, “I want to be light. I want to be beautiful and afraid of nothing.” That is, I guess, why I am here right now in this odd place among strangers.
I am going to see this beautiful lady in Kalinga named Whang Od Oggay to get a tattoo – a new wound over an old one – because we must not dwell on old wounds. Because we must live light and unafraid of hurt. Even scars need to breathe anew, in redemption, away from the dark. Maybe when you’re a bit older, you will understand what this all means.
But for now, I hope you are well on your side of things; that light always shines down on you, as it did on me when you came into my life.
Thinking of you wherever I am,
Mama
