Father and Mother had the second floor of our house built after the great typhoon Yoling. When the second floor was built, there were already eight children plus my maternal grandparents, so there were twelve of us all-in-all. We used to have three bedrooms downstairs. With the expansion of the house, we graduated to a spacious six upstairs.
I now realize that prior to having a second floor, I don't know where the ones younger than me slept. My grandparents slept in the room at the end of the hall. I don't know if any of my siblings stayed with them. Perhaps Slash M slept there. He was the unico hijo, and the first and only male grandchild of Lolo and Lola at the time. I know I slept in the middle room, which was the kids' room, with my 3 older sisters. We had two bunk beds in there for the four of us. Finally, my parents slept in the Master's bedroom with (presumably) the rest of the children.
The room assignments for the second floor were clear. Lolo and Lola had a room for themselves. The pink room was for Eldest Sis and Sister Deer. The blue room was for Slash-M. The yellow room was for London Eye and me. The children's room was for Sunshine, Jersey Girl and Mindy. I think their room was beige. Father and Mother had the Master's bedroom which was powder blue.
[The two bunk beds were relocated to the children's room, where Slash M stayed with the younger girls until he decided he was "old enough" to sleep by himself in his (assigned) room. When J and Z were born, they stayed in the Master's bedroom with my parents. ]
Father and Mother knew the importance of education. Integral to the design of the house was the study room. The study room connects all the bedrooms. Father and Mother had tables set up for each of us, complete with drawers, shelves and lamps in the study room.
As with the room assignment, I don't recall how the study room desks were assigned. All I know is that when the dust settled, it was Eldest Sis - Sister Deer - London Eye - Angels4Kids - Slash M on one side. On the other side it was Sunshine - Mindy - Jersey Girl.
[When J and Z were born, they added tables beside Sunshine's and Jersey Girl's so that all ten of us would have our own space.]
Our parents must have thought that we were the cutest kids on the planet because one day they decided to call in the professionals and have our pictures taken. These pictures would be blown up to 15" x 20" and placed prominently in our respective study room spots. Several shots were taken but only one was selected. The selected shots would be the ones we (and every single person who visited our study room) would see from that day onwards.
A couple of weeks back, I came across shots of Sister Deer and Slash M that "didn't make the cut." I have posted them here. The first shot would be the 'immortalized' photo, the next would be 'the other shot.'
Yesterday, I found mine. I distinctly remember that my front teeth were missing. No amount of coaxing would have made me show my teeth for a picture that would be blown up to larger than life.
(What can I say? My lips are sealed.)
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