Halloween Musings in my Parents’ House

Home for Halloween!

While we don’t really have trick or treat here, our ‘Halloween’ tradition is to celebrate All Saint’s Day, and it involves going to the cemeteries to visit our loved ones. The local government has allowed very few vendors in the cemeteries this year because of the accidents that have happened in the past (LPG tanks exploding in food stalls etc.). Liquor ban was also imposed, though I would like to think that those people who drink in cemeteries are thinking of how their deceased loved ones shared some drinks with them when they were still here.

But that’s for tomorrow, and it’s going to be emotional for me because I will see my grandma’s grave again. Sometimes, it’s a lot better to just pretend that she’s still here. And, it’s not difficult to believe that she’s still here. I can still smell the oils she used to rub on her scalp during bed time.

So here I am, writing out my thoughts on my parents’ dining table, under a humongous chandelier that spans the whole upper part of our generous ceiling.

I don’t think I have ever really appreciated the lighting in my parents’ house. Now that I am home for the first time in a long while, I couldn’t help but thank the old architect that decorated our home and allowed for better lighting flexibility. I don’t think I could ever pull of a crystal chandelier where I live now in Cavite, there’s not enough ceiling space.

When I was younger, I could read anything at any nook of our home, but I have always taken that as a given. Being exposed to an old apartment that didn’t have much ventilation in the past, and a bungalow that didn’t allow much artistic lighting, I can now appreciate the chandeliers that my parents hang over the main dining table and the plastic covers that they adorn our regular fluorescent lighting with. The gallery at maxim lighting describes these type of artistic lights quite well.