We are four "April fools" in the family--my wife, my brother-in-law, my nephew and myself--which is a good enough reason for four families to get together yesterday at my sister's rustic place in Laguna, a good 1- to 1 1/2 hour-drive south of Metro Manila. Occasions like this is rare, so we use this opportunity for light banter about family matters . It would have been a perfect Sunday, save for an intrusive ring tone on my brother's mobile phone as we were having afternoon coffee under the shade of a used parachute canopy set up by my brother-in-law for this occasion.
My brother is with the planning group of our Department of Agriculture, whose big boss is now in the eye of a raging storm: the rice crisis. The urgent text message he received pertained to a rush assignment regarding a presentation needed ASAP today, Monday. Of course, it was about the food crisis.
Since I spent my early years with the government's economic planning agency (NEDA), he sought my assistance in gathering the data series which he needed, which goes very far back to 1972. I slept late last night researching online, but the earliest series I could get, and this was from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) website, was only from 1982 onward. My bank's library collection fortunately had old volumes of the NEDA Statistical Yearbook so I was able to complete the data series today, which I promptly emailed to my brother. That should, in turn, allow him to complete his presentation materials.
Looking back, that text message had the potential of really spoiling our fun had it arrived earlier that day. Maybe, we should agree to turn off our mobile phones at the next family reunion. After all, if all the persons important in your life are with you sharing the fun, what do you need a live celfone for?
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