SPEAKING OUT Ignacio R. Bunye About this time every year, many of us try to recollect personal and family experiences during the year which is about to end. It is also now that we renew resolutions and express hope and wishes for the coming year. As has been our family tradition, our family, on my wife Mira’s side, usually meets for a Christmas lunch get-together. During our last big get-together, attendees consisted of representatives from four generations, ages ranging from 8 to 80. But this year, we will have to do with a virtual reunion scheduled at 11 a.m., December 25 (Manila time). We are expected to be joined by relatives from California and  Arizona. Let me recollect our wish list during earlier normal times. During one Christmas get-together, my daughter Frannie presided over a parlor game which she called “Bayong List.” It consisted of each attendee listing down three wishes (in the order of preference) and dropping them in a tiny bayong. The attendees were grouped into 3 which each group trying to correctly guess the person whose wish list was being read. The group with the most correct answers won a special prize. We had so much fun trying to guess and later discovering who made the wish list being read. On a personal level, I felt much closer to my relatives after knowing a little more about what they wished and aspired for. As enumerated below, a good many expressed their wish to travel. But some surprised us with their “secret” desires. Here is what the “Bayong List” revealed: Foreign travel: Travel around the world with family, a multi-country trip with best friend, live in the countryside in Japan, visit New York, visit Europe, go to Israel, go to North Africa, go to South America, go to Morocco. Special-purpose travel: Walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, taste different beers around the world. Exotic travel destinations: Visit the Aztecs, trip to Bhutan, trip to Nepal. Special places: Oregon Gravity Falls, visit former Nazi concentration camps. Local travel: Travel all over the Philippines, go to Batanes. High adventure: Go to Antarctica, climb Mount Everest, do the UTMB (Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc) Ultra sports: Join the Tour de France, try mix martial arts, try sky-diving. Other sports: Try out in Junior NBA, play as a rookie in a university, ride 100 km on bike, go sailing. Want to watch: First International Hong Kong Race with Tim Yup, watch NBA game live with family, watch OKC game, watch Potomac Labrador show. Secret passion: Be a Victoria Secret model, sing in front of an audience, to be able to sing a tune, dance in public, learn ballet, dance Argentinian tango. Want to meet: Harry Styles, Kobe Bryant. Want to own: a 1965 red convertible Mustang, a Subaru Impreza, more dogs. Want to ride: ride the Concorde, flight deck ride on an Airbus A380, ride the PNR with friends, ride a glider plane. Other wants/wishes: To write a book (completed 2x), to work with especially impaired children (done 2x), to ride a bicycle, to see snow, to swim with dolphins. How one unforeseen event can change all our plans in an instant! If we were to play the same game today, I am sure each one will have only one wish - an end to this pandemic and a chance to once again live normal lives. Note: You may wish to share the foregoing via Facebook, Twitter, or Linked-In.