BOXES

August 17, 2024 Opinion

THE day I had to find my passport was the day I realized I was afraid of boxes. I had dozens of it at home, the home, stacked and rotting, I put it off opening these boxes for so long it has gotten silly. And hidden behind my bookcase were three steel boxes I mentally labeled as the most important of all, I knew it contained my passport, I remember putting it there distinctly, purposely with other odds and ends I have kept over the years, I knew I would have to go through all three boxes… I knew.

The first box had diaries (yes, I had diaries, which my dear baby brother would read… aloud, just to irk me) I wrote
when I was in high school and college, pictures of friends, little notes memorabilia of sorts. The second box
contained college papers I wrote which I was proud of, photos of family… identification cards, old wallets and other pieces that would put the hardened sentimentalist to shame.

One particular keepsake was a wallet, a green “kerokerope”, with a big zipper… I kept that because I almost lost
it twice. The first time, while walking home from school with my cousin it was taken from me and I ran after a snatcher who took it when I and Janelle my cousin was walking home from school. A snatcher took it from my jacket pocket one afternoon along Magsaysay Avenue, before there was CenterMall, specifically in front of the Jollibee area now. I ran to get it and found the kid inside one of the jeepneys at Soliman Street.

He was probably so surprised I ran after him so he tossed it back to me… Inside it contained P20 pesos and a photo of my family and friends… I didn’t want to lose the photos so I chased after the thief like a madwoman. The second time was when my friends decided to play a prank on me, taking the same wallet and submitting it to the lost and found, just to see my reaction and forever tease me about it.

The third box, as I opened it, finally contained my passport and a lot of other documents, photos that when I run over will gave me a rush of memories, some happy, some sad. I quickly got what I ventured to find and closed the boxes… and most of them till today have remained closed. Opening boxes will give you a sense of nostalgia, bringing you back into a time you may want to relive or to a place you want to forget altogether. You will never know, until you start opening.