my brother (dodong's father) and my father are coastguards. coastguards do that, you know. they go to other places and have trainings and assignments. these usually last for 6 months to a year. my mother said that when my father used to be out of town i never showed i was sad. all of us actually. whenever my father was home, we would not think so much of him, too. we knew he was our father, but we never felt he had to do something about it. hehehehe..my earliest memories of childhood never included my father. he was the typical absentee type. but i do remember one Christmas scene. it was night time when my mother woke all three of us up because my father just arrived. i was still groggy but when i saw he brought chocolates, i became fully awake. my father suggested we hang the chocolates (kisses, i think) on the Christmas tree, so we spent a good part of the evening tying strings on the candies and hanging them on the tree (before, our Christmas tree used to be a huge branch of a guava tree which we wrapped in cottons... don't ask. hehe).
i don't think our father really hugged us or kissed us when he arrived that night. but i remember very well that he went straight to my mother to kiss and hug her. they spent the evening being all lovey dovey. in my young mind, i didn't know the concept yet, but it was very clear to me that this guy was my mom's boyfriend. i was very happy that night because my mother was clearly giggly with joy. before i knew anything about him, i liked him first because he made my mother happy. looking back, i think i can say i learned about romance from how i saw my father around my mother. no grand gestures or anything. just simple sincere romance.
Banne sent me a quote once: The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. (Theodore M. Hesburgh)
i really, honestly, truly believe this. my father may lack of many things, but not affection for my mother. and for that, i am grateful.
1 comment:
don't worry dodong!
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