BY THE TIME you are reading this column, I would have been signing off my house to its new owner.
I would have lived in my Maryland house for seven years on April 1 now.
But I don’t want to live here anymore for another day.
If the check clears, I’m handing the key to the buyer.
My US homeowner status is over.
I will be officially homeless now.
Homeless with big bucks in his pocket!
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I’m ready to go home to the Philippines, and establish some kind of a stronger presence than just my online swagger or my newspaper column.
I want to start my media-communications-education empire.
Well, that was the plan in late 2019, when I decided on the idea of selling my house.
The first deal in February 2020 didn’t go through.
The first offer was too low.
The house wasn’t really updated.
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Then, the COVID-19 pandemic ruined Life as we knew it.
Not a good idea to be homeless in 2020.
So, I stayed at home, and spent the time renovating my house.
I mean, I wasn’t so poor as to have no money to update my house.
I took my time.
Some six months of it.
Took advantage of cheap labor.
In January, the house was ready.
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But I wasn’t emotionally as ready as I wanted to be.
If I were, I would have boxed everything I wanted and sent them to the Philippines already.
But slowly, I was getting there.
In July 2020, I sent six balikbayan boxes of books and DVDs.
In August, five.
In September, six.
In December, another five boxes of fine items I have collected through my 15 years in the US.
Another six boxes were sent in January 2021.
Another six in February.
Another six yesterday.
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I am very much ready to leave my house in Maryland.
I am ready to live in hotels, and with friends and relatives, until it is safer for me to travel to the Philippines.
Emotionally, I am very much ready to repatriate, and establish my headquarters in Iloilo.
I still see myself traveling around the world when the COVID-19 pandemic is under control, but I also want to enjoy my real estate properties in Iloilo.
And I want to do my mission of working for the youth and education sector, the culture and the arts, and, of course, literature.
I mean, Peter Solis Nery is now a name so connected to Philippine literature that I want to strengthen that with my presence in the country.
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But the mind dictates to keep safety first.
I am still waiting for my vaccines, and I want travel clearances and safe passage.
Of course, I am excited to be coming home.
And I am so excited to meet in person this boy I have been flirting with online since October last year.
If you have been reading my column diligently, you might know him by the character of Luke Paclibar in my novel-in-installments, “The Adventures of Peter Valentine.”
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And speaking of Peter Valentine, I will be serializing the rest of the novel starting next week since I will be off my computer for a while.
I mean, I have to process the sale of my house.
I’m sure there will be some sort of postpartum depression.
Or if not that, I need to plan how to spend my money.
I mean, the house is a stable thing.
It gives you stability and confidence.
I don’t know that money gives me that same assurance.
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But I’m planning to invest in some businesses.
There’s Casa Dom Pedro de Dumangas that needs to start bringing me some money.
There’s a farmland property with a hill, which I plan to convert into a campground.
First order of things: a chapel!
Yes, I made a deal with God that I will build a chapel if my house sells $20,000 more than the price that I wanted for it.
And God it made it happen!
So yeah, I’m so excited to discuss the chapel construction with architects and engineers.
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I will not deny that I also want to be with Code Name: Luke Paclibar as soon as possible.
Will he be the one guy who will be with me for the rest of my life?
Or, will he just be one of those online affairs that fizzle when reality sets in?
One thing I’ll say about “Luke”: he was there for me for most of the dreadful 2020.
If destiny only allows us a pandemic romance, so be it.
With some money and bright prospects ahead of me, I’m sure I will attract all that I want.
After all, I am Peter Solis Nery.
And as history will tell, I often get what I want.
Almost always, anyway.
For the rest, there’s always Visa or MasterCard./PN
