Today marks the 65th birthday of my father. Out of 4 siblings, he's the only one left alive. All of his siblings are already dead. This is truly a gift for him. His eldest sister died of cancer in 2003, then followed by the 2nd to the eldest who died in 2004. In 2005, his brother who was the third child in his family was found dead in our own bathroom. He suffered a heart attack. He was found lying on the bathroom floor by my youngest sister who was asked by my mother to check on him. It wasn't usual for him to use the bathroom for more than 30 minutes. That was a sad story.
Year 2006 came. As you can see, all his siblings died consecutively, that is every year. I'm afraid he will follow the same path too so I decided to go back to Bacolod from Manila and look for a job in my own province. It was so timely because Teleperformance Bacolod opened in 2006 so I was hired the same year. In 2006, my prayer is for God to give my father a chance to live longer as he still has so many things to do for us. We are not expecting him to take care of us the way he took care of us when we were still younger but I believe that he still have so many things to see. For one, he doesn't have a grandchild yet and I'm hoping that before he dies, he will see at least one grandchild. Now my prayer is for him to see more grandkids.
Papang is one of the kindest person I've ever met. He's quiet, observant and very generous. He would give the last rice we have stored in our house to anyone who needs it. He would go to a point of sharing his remaining P100 bill with a friend who is in need. He seldom scolds us, but when he does, he does it in a calm manner. He's very humble too. He doesn't like to show off. He can drive a car and rode a jeepney with no problem at all. We learned to be generous because of him. And he would often say that life is a wheel; never step down on anybody. I remember when I was about 5 or 6 years old, my friends would tease me about having a retard brother. I said I don't have any. Later on I realized that there's this retard boy about 15 or 16 years old who is calling my father "papang". He doesn't live in our neighborhood, he would just come to our place everday and visit my father. My father will give him food or whatever it is that he could give, and in return, this retard whom we called "Buboy-buboy" would give a free massage or nail cleaning. And mind you, he's very skilled in cleaning nails.
In this life of ours, we will only have one father and mother and soon they'll be gone. What have we done to show our love for them? That's the same question I have for myself now...
Year 2006 came. As you can see, all his siblings died consecutively, that is every year. I'm afraid he will follow the same path too so I decided to go back to Bacolod from Manila and look for a job in my own province. It was so timely because Teleperformance Bacolod opened in 2006 so I was hired the same year. In 2006, my prayer is for God to give my father a chance to live longer as he still has so many things to do for us. We are not expecting him to take care of us the way he took care of us when we were still younger but I believe that he still have so many things to see. For one, he doesn't have a grandchild yet and I'm hoping that before he dies, he will see at least one grandchild. Now my prayer is for him to see more grandkids.
Papang is one of the kindest person I've ever met. He's quiet, observant and very generous. He would give the last rice we have stored in our house to anyone who needs it. He would go to a point of sharing his remaining P100 bill with a friend who is in need. He seldom scolds us, but when he does, he does it in a calm manner. He's very humble too. He doesn't like to show off. He can drive a car and rode a jeepney with no problem at all. We learned to be generous because of him. And he would often say that life is a wheel; never step down on anybody. I remember when I was about 5 or 6 years old, my friends would tease me about having a retard brother. I said I don't have any. Later on I realized that there's this retard boy about 15 or 16 years old who is calling my father "papang". He doesn't live in our neighborhood, he would just come to our place everday and visit my father. My father will give him food or whatever it is that he could give, and in return, this retard whom we called "Buboy-buboy" would give a free massage or nail cleaning. And mind you, he's very skilled in cleaning nails.
In this life of ours, we will only have one father and mother and soon they'll be gone. What have we done to show our love for them? That's the same question I have for myself now...
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