catacutan-family.jpg

L-R: Tito Dodo and Tita Daisy
L-R: Tata, Achi Ging, and Shoti

At long last, the Catacutan Family is complete again. The mom in the picture is my dad’s younger sister, so that makes those goofy ones down there my cousins. And my closest cousins at that. I grew up with Alain (or “Tata”) and Archie (or “Shoti”) that’s why it makes me a sad when I think about them permanently living in Suffolk, Virginia now. And it’s not just a 1-month or a 2-week thing anymore. We’ve always been there for each other, and they’ve always been so nice to me and my brothers. I even considered Tata as my “cousin in shining armor” when we were younger because he was always there to help me when I need it. I didn’t have a boyfriend in high school and in college so it was either my cousins or my brothers who would be there for me (But on some levels, I was closer to my cousins than my brothers. I could never talk to my brothers about my problems or my then-nonexistent lovelife, hehe). When Tata left in 2004, Shoti filled his shoes.

I guess the one big remembrance I have from Tata is the Toshiba laptop he gave me, and Shoti his car. We named the car “Betsy” after Archie Andrews’ jalopy. You know, the one in the comics. Shoti’s real name is Archie, thus the name. Get it? Lol.

It took more than 10 years before my uncle’s papers were approved. Before that, it was just my aunt and my cousins who were spending Christmas in the States, while they’re dad was far away, sometimes just hanging out with us. So you can just imagine how thrilled I was when Tata sent me photos of their recent Christmas together with this caption:

Everytime you want something complete and you think you will have it, it will come true.. if you’re patient and willing to fight for it. Being complete is what I want to be. So for my family and me, this Christmas is as good as it could do for me.

They’ve waited for a long time, and today they’re all together again. I couldn’t be happier for them!

I’ve got cousins in the US on my father’s side of the family that I haven’t met yet. Pretty soon they’d be hitting puberty and I’d still be one of the three cousins in the Philippines (that would be my brothers and me *rolls eyes*) who they only know by name. I don’t have plans of migrating to a whole other country (despite what my aunts in the US are pushing me to do) but I would really love it if I could come and see my cousins there someday and get to know each one of them. :)

What about you? Do you have relatives abroad? When was the last time you’ve seen them?

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