Hopscotch and all

"Step?", "No".
"Step?" "Yes".

This is the sound that reverberated at our office one lunchtime, as the two elementary kids of our officemate skipped the tiles of our floor. Oblivious of the adults' stares, the girl and the boy, who are waiting for their mom for their lunch, alternately continued their leaps on the 12 x 12 inch-tiles, and yet gleefully accepted the small defeat every time they get the "no" from each other.

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After almost having stepped on all the tiles of our hallway, the boy quipped to his older sister: "'Nang, let's play "titser-titseran." The "manang" dutifully went to her mom's desk, rummage around for some scratch paper, and told her brother to sit down to take a "test."

"Fiiivvveee plus tttwwwooo" went the first item, deliberately enunciated, paused, and stressed, with matching query of a "finished?". After the young boy had mad his nod, sister intoned an emphatic "eight minus six", and off went the five -item "quiz."

"Piko", hopscotch; "titser-titseran", "bahay-bahayan" and other role plays. "Tumbang preso" or night and day,"habulan", the plain yet amazing race;, "taguan" the hide-and seek;, "chinese garter" and "pick-up-sticks". These and many more games we, children before, used to play. But how about now, I pondered as I watched the kids, engrossed in their selves.

Sentimental I may have become, but the kids' scene made me ponder of the healthy, lively and fun lifestyle we had before beepers, cell phones, Nintendo, play stations, x-boxes, and videogames came.

Kite-playing was a real treat during windy days. Makeshift paper pasted in crossed bamboo sticks with a piece of plastic for a tail and tied on a string brought in the fields of green and thrown high up in the air, with its tie made taut for it to fly high up in the air is an exciting adventure for both girls and boys, and the olds. After such, the "habulan" would just follow, what with all the meadows for the children to scuttle, to and fro.

Our parents were not afraid, then, even if we earned bruises and scratches from jumping a long stretch of "lastiko" or rubber bands, or climbing "aratiles" "mansanitas", "sarisas" or wild cherries, for the foreign brand. Just a juice of local "malunggay" leaves, and other herb poultices would suffice to counter any swelling or infection which was just afraid to come. And even if we did not have beepers or mobile phones and other locators thingamajigs. Just a whistle or a scream of our names, off we rushed home for the praying of the "orasyon" or the angelus. Dinner was not from the fast food chain, but a concoction of our "lolas" or "nanays" homemade concoction of adobo "kangkong leaves", "laswa" and fried fish, capped up with farm- fresh ,yellow bananas dotted our tables, and was to our mouths' and stomachs' content. And though we did not while the night away in front of chat rooms, facebook, twitter, or television, we had lots of love and encouragement in our real family conversation ,And our friends, were for real, and for life, not just the mere acquaintances we got from our PC's or mobile phones' screens.

Our real friends played squarely, walked the long road, swam the river of life, and climbed the way up ahead---all with us. We were with them, and they, with us, through high's and low's. And even if they were not certified shrinks, we shared both our frustrations and dreams with them.

But going back to hopscotch, night- and -day, amazing race and role plays, the games were all life's safety net which prevented us all from being obese, and diabetic. Why, you may ask. We did not worry much on these two woes of modern life, because we were always on the go. We jumped, moved, and ran--- we were always playing out in the sun. We did not have a sedentary life spent in front of our net books, PC's and Palms.

And you may say, "Mimi,that was used-to-be's". Yes, but there is still the sun, and there are still track fields to run. There are still meadows and rivers out there. Blessings and gifts ready to be opened, all handed for all of us. No need of ID's, strata, or class.

If those two aforementioned kids in the beginning of my piece found joy in the modern tile floors, don't you think there's more fun and meaning to life if you try bringing back to today some, if not all, the used-to-be's before?

Here's to a more blessed week ahead. Thanks a lot for reading SunStar Bacolod Weekend.