I spent the night of New Year's Eve on the rooftop of my home, among my family and cousins from Iloilo. Prior to the scene, we just came from a family reunion that I will cherish for the rest of my life. The party was great, there were a lot of good food and all my cousins went which was so great!

Let me give a brief background first. Ten or so years ago, I along with these cousins of mine lived in my grandparent's home in the suburbs of Cubao. Those were when I spent my childhood. My cousins were like my brothers and sisters, I was an only child then but I was never lonely because I had them. Eventually, we parted ways. Their dad had a job in Iloilo so their whole family moved. I often asked when they would come back and the answer was always a shake of the head. In later years, my cousin BJ, who was the same age as I, would visit and we would have a great time reminiscing the times we had in that humble home in Cubao. These year though, it was different since everyone came back and once again, I felt like I had a complete family again.

The thing with the party was that it seemed like ten years ago again. Everyone was drinking and eating happily around the huge rectangle table in grandma's house. I was sitting beside my cousin BJ and I had my hands over my ears because I was deathly afraid of fireworks and he, swell guy that he is, would put his hand on my shoulder and make some joke saying how I never changed. He'd call me Mato as he always did because it annoyed me to be called so back in the day and he would watch the fireworks with utmost delight. It was as if the years apart never went by.

As the clock ticked 12am, we wished each other a happy new year. Everyone of us up on the roof grouphugged and said our happy new years. It was great. I could've cried if the fireworks didn't scare me haha. But that's the point, I realized that I will never get rid of my fear of fireworks every new year because it reminds me of how my family would always be there to tell me there is nothing to be afraid of.