Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my Dad
I think I haven't posted anything yet about my dad. No, I am not really close to him when both of us were growing up. And I guess, I need not wait for father's day to post anything about him today.
Read on.
My dad was lucky. He's got two wives. I have no idea how it feels to have two women loving you. Loving in the sense that leaving would still be an option but there were documents and ceremonies that had taken place so the bind should be there eversince.
Two wives which means to families. I come from the second. And both are legal. The first wife died before my mom fell in love with him. Two wives, two families, four offsprings each. Dead even, right? Hihi.
Acccording to him, he was born underground because of the war that was happening that time.
Okay. From this point onwards, I would be sharing some things which I remember my dad the best.
::: We've had generous amount of carabao's milk every morning. He tries to catch the peddler early morning for a bottle.
::: We learned to pet, aside for our dogs, pigs, doves, culls and goats. Okay, pigs first. I had my share bottle feeding our piglets when their mom got sick and leate on died. Every after school, I go staight to their pen to prepare them milk. Doves and culls were easy to look after since I just have throw them pellets every now and then. The goats I chose to feed using my hands. Sometimes, I went playful by making them mad and provoking them to chase me.
::: I also got inclined with gardening. Our house area was full of plants. ALmost everything available in the plains, we had. Fruit-bearing trees, vegetalbles, ornamentals, we had. Today, we maintained several which was planted by my dad.
::: I couldn't think about the worst disciplinary punishment he gave me. Usually, he hits me with a stick, a branch freshly torn from a gumamela plant or pulls my ear.
::: When I had chicken pox, he was the one who gave me this sponge bath wherein the towel would be soaked unto this basin with boiled medicinal seeds. When I had measles, he also took care of me and kept track of the hours for my medicine and squeezed out singkamas juice in my eyes to keep them from infection.
::: He tried his best to send all 8 of us in the best school in our community.
::: He was once a leader in our place. Not the chairman but the one who led a group for forming projects specifically those of the church. During his time, he headed the construction of the stage for the yearly cenculo and the altar in our chapel.
::: He was a bit alcoholic and was a chain smoker.
::: He didn't scold nor hit me when I went somewhere else during my birthday. I think it was 9th or 10th. I accompied my cousing to their farm. It was far from our house. Basically, there are two ways to get there. Those are by walking along the highway and taking the riverside way. We took the latter. My dad was furious because I went home past lunch time and went to the river. You know the proverb that a birthday celebrator is prone to accidents during his/her birthday. He mentioned that if it wasn't my bithday, I might be beaten up.
::: This part I think is the saddest whenever I think of him. I was in first year high school. It was December and the first day of my school's foundation day. The first part of the three-day occasion was family day. My dad, I think mom's also there, went. He stayed a bit til lunch time. I should be happy since some of my schoolmates' parents never made it. After lunch, I just stayed in my classroom. My dad looked for me. He was giving me his free meal. I told him that I'm done and I asked him that he could leave already since the proram has ended. I didn't mean anything by that. I am not that close to my dad that's why I told him that the day was already over. I think one of my classmates saw us and had that notion that I was a bit ashamed of my dad's presence. Honestly, I am, up to this point, not used to being taken cared of or being attended to because I've learned to be on my own. After my classmate told me that, I thought that probably, my dad felt that way. This part of my life was saddening.
::: More people are already telling me that I look like my dad.
He was a better cook than my mom. He already mastered preparing balisungsong (cooked rice wrapped in banana leaves). Sometimes, he would roll a handful of fried rice and make it look like suman (rice-made delicacy/rice cake).
Perhaps, the college degree I finished was somewhat linked to him. After my dad retired from the bank, he settled with animals and plants. I took Botany in college.
Oh, by the way, he's been dead for a decade now. Today is actually his 10th year death anniversary.
(A few years back, when my youngest brother was still in elementary, he had a conversation with our sister. He told her that he barely remember how my dad looks like. It saddened me. Also, I never had creepy moments uo to now.)
Just sharing :p
posted by Arn 
at 12:43 PM
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