Thursday, September 20, 2012

First Man In My Life ... Happy Birthday Papa

A man with great courage, strength and full of dreams.... that is my PAPA. 

He is the eldest of 9 children. He was born in a family that lived each day wherein they have to work hard to have food on the table. I remember him telling us his story, that as a child he would wake up early morning to go with Anda (grand mother) to sell pandesal (bread) in the streets of Pakil, Laguna. His mother a dress maker and  his father a soldier. They may not lived a luxurious life, but they were happy and was raised as God fearing children. He strive hard to reach his dreams and he worked while finishing his studies. I am proud to say that he started from the lowest rank and retired as the Assistant Station Manager of AIR FRANCE Airline, after 30 years of service. He did not let poorness be a hindrance in fulfilling his dreams. 

Papa is a good brother and a son. He was never selfish in sharing what he has, to his parents and his siblings. Even when he got married and had children he still provided for them. He has even helped other people and managed to save for the future. 

Growing up, my Papa was some sort of a strict father, even if it's weekend the latest time we can wake up was 8am, otherwise you will really be scolded. We were not allowed to sleep over at our friends house, had curfew (12mn quite lenient during those times). Every summer, Papa and Mama see to it that all our helpers will be on their vacation, me and my siblings will have our own chores to do....  BOOT CAMP! Back then, we didn't like it, of course as kids we just want to play, sleep and eat! But now, being independent, I thank him for training us and all was worth it. 

Papa is a loving, caring, protective father and a very good provider. I admire how he has raised us all by himself when my Mama passed away. It was a big pressure on him I am pretty sure. But he did not allow loneliness to give up on us. For more than 10 years he portrayed the role of both Father and Mother to us, his children. He may not be perfect but I can say he has done more than what was expected. Because we want him to be happy, we did not get in the way for him to search for his partner. We knew that we as his children would not be able to give the kind of love of what a partner would be able to give him. He is lucky that God has given him my Stepmom MAMSI who has taken cared of him and loved him unconditionally. The big age gap did not hinder their love for one another. And even luckier that 3 little angels were born whom I can say have never considered to be half brother and sisters. 

Now that Papa is "_ 2" years old (i wont write the real number, because the kids knows that Papa is still in his forties ... lolz) I wish him good health, peace of mind and spend more time with the kids, as we were not able to experience that before because he was busy with work which we understand. May our Great God give him more years to live so we can spend more time with him. God willing we will all be together again. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA ... thank you for being the best father and friend to me. Thank you for being so understanding and for loving me unconditionally. 

Here's a song that every time I hear it, I remember papa singing it ... he has a very good modulated singing voice too!  ^_^ 

I LOVE YOU PAPA! 



BIG TIME - BIG LOVE 

2 comments: