June 18, 2012

Dear Daddy



For the most part of my growing up years, images of you coming home with your luggages and going away with the same have been my vivid recollection of you. 
You had to work abroad. For the family.
It came with a lot of sacrifices… like missing special occasions in my life…
… my 1st , 7th, 18th birthdays and most of my birthdays in between and after…
… my kindergarten, elementary, high school graduations, in all I gave a speech you didn’t hear… and finally my college graduation…
Special occasions in a young girl’s life when she needed to have her father by her side… but you were not there…
And I knew it broke your heart as much as it did mine…

Though you missed those special occasions… I knew you tried your best to make up for lost time… my best memories were the mundane moments… things little girls my age then would have dismissed easily…
… the times when you were teaching me and my sisters how to ride the bicycle and we would go to the nearby park so we could just ride the bike for hours on a lazy weekend afternoon…  You’d let us eat all the streetfood we wanted and would just wait for us to get tired of biking and playing on the swing until we begged you for us to walk back home… We’d do that week after week, and you  would always oblige to go with us, even if you could have stayed to watch your favorite TV show…
… when you taught me how to wash the dishes… your way. And I was so bent on making you proud of me, I actually volunteered to wash the dishes almost every after meal since then, and would show you how I did it… and my reward would be your approving nod and smile…
… the times when I would just sit with you in the room as you watched sports on TV -- basketball, tennis, billiards -- and I would sit there, watching observingly, pretending I was enjoying the show, and asking about the rules of the game every now and then, my feeble attempts to start a conversation with you. And I was happy that you would willingly explain to me the rules. I never really understood them. To be honest, I couldn’t care less. I just wanted those times with you.


Now, as a grown-up, I am learning to be thankful for the little things God allows us to share together…
… our table talks… especially those moments when we unexpectedly bare our hearts to one another… I cherished those rare occasions when you would give me fatherly advice on life and love… You don’t know how much I cling on to every word you say…
… the meals you cooked for me and my sisters, every time we find time to go home to our farmhouse in Quezon. You’re just glowing with joy when you do that, always, as if we’re still your little girls.
Most importantly, I am thankful that it’s not too late for you to be the dad I never had when I was growing up. We still have the rest of our lives to make new memories… 

I love you Daddy. Happy Father’s Day!

P.S.
Please be there on my wedding day… ;p And I pray you live to see your grandchildren. :)


3 comments:

effie said...

tear-jerker, you! :'>

Bettina said...

Teary-eyed here also.. I hate you, Ate Aimee. :( <3 In a good way haha!

the midnight muser said...

Love you both Effie and Bettie! <3