My Philippines, Restored - The birth of my love for My Philippines

My first taste of My Philippines was the stories my aunty brought with her. I was 5 years old when I first met my mum's precious little sister. She was the first 'real' aunty that I had met. She became an older sister, a best friend. She is my second mother, my Mama B.
Mum had waited longer than the minutes we stood by the arrival barriers at Heathrow - she had waited years for the moment to be reunited with family. In the midst of the crowds, a familiar face wearing a mustard coloured skirt suit came searching through the swinging doors of Terminal 3. She was lovely with long black hair, glowing skin, and an even brighter smile, fresh from the Philippines. Mum smothered her with hugs, tears and kisses while we shared friendly smiles. Being an only child, I was excited to claim her as my new playmate but was too shy to make the first move.
I clung to her, observing her energy and youth and listened to her stories without saying a word. It must have been obvious that I wanted to be just like her. She slept soon after we got home because of the 8 hour time difference, and despite mum telling me to let her rest, I snuck up beside her and was forcing myself to sleep too. From then on till she moved out, I slept next to her. It became our routine that before we would sleep, she would tell me stories about my family in the Philippines. She refused to talk to me in English so my understanding of Tagalog expanded, thanks to her, into fluency.
Mum had told me about My Philippines but her account was from distant memories. Mama B's version was fresh and real. From her animated story telling, in my mind I imagined it all.
Lolo (my grandfather) would be old and hot tempered. Lola (my grandmother) would be old, fragile, sweet and would cry when she met me. I had uncles and auntys that wanted to meet me. I would have loads of older cousins to play with there. I would have baby cousins that I could take care of there. We wouldnt have many toys but we would make our own toys. We would climb trees, pick fruit and eat out doors. We could run in the feilds where it would be nice and sunny all day. We had cats, dogs, parrots, pigs, chickens, cows and goats we could take care of. There would be no strangers there because everyone knows everyone. The seed of her stories grew into my dream - I wanted to go to My Philippines.

Father, I thank you for Mama B. I thank you that it is because of her that I now know and love My Philippines.