Hannah Blooms Into A Woman – Part 2: Visiting My Great Grandmother's House

Hey, Hivers! It’s makiyumee here and I am back with the second part of Hannah Blooms into a Woman blog series. How have you been? I hope I didn’t make you wait that long. Anyways, without further ado, let’s get into it now!

The sun was at its peak when we arrived at my Nanay and Tatay’s house. I was sweating so much after walking under the heat of the sun for almost an hour since the walk from the main road towards Tatay’s house was a bit far. My mother would sometimes complain about how we were walking as if we were crossing seven mountains before we arrived at Tatay’s house. It’s true, though; the walk was indeed very long, but it was all worth it when we arrived at their house.

Nanay and Tatay’s house was nestled on top of a hill, and when we got there, all my sweat and fatigue faded away because of the relaxing breeze, the peaceful atmosphere, and the cool shade of the trees. The way nature cured my tired body naturally was one of the reasons why I love visiting or living in the countryside. After a while of resting while catching up with Tatay and Nanay, I told my mother that I was going to visit my great-grandmother’s house, and she nodded immediately before saying that I indeed needed to visit my great-grandmother after how many months of not seeing her. With that, I began my adventure towards my great-grandmother’s house.

The path to my great-grandmother’s house wasn’t the same as the path that my mother and I took on the way to my Tatay’s house. This time, the path was a bit muddy and rocky. Trees surrounded the path, making it look like those paths in horror movies that the main characters take when they want to run away or hide from the monsters. That was exactly what came to mind the moment I stood in front of the mouth of the path.

As I walked through the path, I kept on pushing away the branches that were in the way, and every time I would hear other sounds like shuffling of leaves, branches breaking, or flapping of wings, I couldn’t help but get nervous. I was alone in the middle of a forest, for Pete’s sake, and there was no one I could turn to for help! Geez, I was such a scaredy cat, but despite this, I still chose to go forward—though my steps became faster because of the thought that someone might appear in front of me like those brothers from Wrong Turn or maybe worse.

After walking and passing through the trees and ferns, the end of the forest finally came into view, and I couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Finally, I was out. I walked further and after a few steps, my great-grandmother’s house finally came into a view. Oh, I forgot to mention that the one who’s currently taking care of my great-grandmother’s house right now is my Tita, my Nanay’s sister.

My great-grandmother died a few weeks after Typhoon Yolanda landed in the Philippines, but before the typhoon happened, she was already weak and old. If I’m not mistaken, she was around 86 years old when Typhoon Yolanda came. Nanay told me how difficult it was for them during the storm because their houses were built using light materials, and they were also too old to be moving from their house to the evacuation center, which was the elementary and high school in Banban, and the schools were located miles away from their place.

When the storm got stronger, Nanay decided that it was best to leave their houses and find refuge at a friend’s house, which was nearby. Luckily, Nanay’s friend let them stay at their house during the storm, but my great-grandmother during that time was growing weak, and the cold from the storm was not helping her health. A few days after Typhoon Yolanda, my great-grandmother died of old age since her body couldn’t take it anymore. But what was more shocking was that her house, which was made of light materials, did not even suffer a lot of damage like the other houses in Banban, where some flew from one place to another because of the strong wind while some houses were missing some parts.

My great-grandmother’s house stood strong during the storm, and the only thing that was damaged was a small part of the roof. If Nanay only knew that her mother’s house wouldn’t be damaged by the storm, she wouldn’t have transferred to her friend’s place with my great-grandmother, and my great-grandmother wouldn’t be weaker because of the cold and the weather too.

I strolled around the house with memories of how I used to spend my time with my great-grandmother along with my other cousins. I saw this familiar giant wok that my cousins and I always used as a tub when we took a bath at my great-grandmother’s house whenever we spent the night there when we were young.

My great-grandmother’s trees and plants were still doing fine too. I bet my Tita took care of them meticulously since she also liked flowers, just like her mother. This goat and her baby got my attention when I got near my Tita’s dirty kitchen, and I laughed when the baby goat looked at me before galloping towards his mother to drink his afternoon milk.

After strolling around, I got a call from my mother, and she told me that it was now time for us to go to my aunt’s house because my cousin’s birthday party was about to start. Tatay was already dressed, and so was Nanay. They were already waiting for me, so I had to go back to my Tatay’s house. Before I knew it, I was standing again in front of the path that leads to the forest between Tatay's house and my great-grandmother’s house.

I took a deep breath before I walked inside the forest, and I couldn’t help but shiver as I got deeper once again. Goodness, I can’t believe my Tita and my great-grandmother used this path for decades without even feeling scared about walking alone. Ladies from the countryside are very brave. I got deeper into the forest, and I felt relieved when I saw butterflies along the trail. I told myself, "Just follow the butterflies, and you'll be fine."

Soon, after following the butterflies (and not the spiders; thankfully, there were none), I finally arrived in front of my Tatay's house. I called them and told them that it was time for us to go. My mother, along with Nanay and Tatay, locked their house, and we all made our way towards my aunt's house for the celebration.

Part 3 will be coming up soon! That's it for the second part of this blog series, Hivers. See you all on the next one!