Dear Diary,
I had the most wild, eye-opening night ever. You know how sometimes you’re just scrolling or watching TV and something totally random happens that unlocks a huge family secret? That was tonight.
We were all gathered, watching this epic travel vlog about Tabuk City, Kalinga. Seriously, the mountains and the rice terraces look insane, like something out of a movie. I was just zoning out thinking, “Wow, the Philippines is beautiful,” when Mama casually drops a bomb: “You know, your Lola and her whole family are originally from there.”
RECORD SCRATCH. Wait, what?!
I mean, we’re here, rooted in Cauayan City, Isabela. I always just assumed we were always Isabela folk. So, I did what any good detective would do: I ask Mama a ton of questions. “Why did they leave Kalinga, the beautiful land of our ancestors?”
The answer is nuts, Diary. It turns out my great-grandparents didn’t move here; they were essentially trapped here by destiny, or you know, World War II.
Mama explained that Great-Lolo and Great-Lola packed up their bags and traveled all the way from Tabuk to Cauayan just to visit some relatives. A simple, temporary trip. But while they were enjoying their vacation here, the Japanese invaded the Philippines. Suddenly, everything was chaos. Travel was shut down, the country was in turmoil, and going back up to the mountains was impossible, or at least incredibly dangerous.
So, they never left. They came for a visit and ended up staying forever!
It’s completely mind-blowing to think about. If they hadn’t decided to take that one specific trip at that one specific moment in history, I wouldn’t be writing this diary entry right now. Our whole branch of the family would be somewhere up in the beautiful mountains of Kalinga.
I guess the moral of the story is: always keep your travel plans flexible, because sometimes a war decides your new postcode! I can’t wait to learn more about the specifics of what they did during those war years here in Isabela. This is officially the coolest history lesson I’ve ever had.
Catch you later, Anna^^.
