Thursday, June 28, 2007

Papa Roach

My dad has a very generous spirit. He gives toys to other kids and gives ceramic xiaolin figurines to my uncles and cousins. He always brings food home. Not just for me, my brothers and my mother, but also for our guests and everytime we go anywhere to visit anyone, he would always make an effort to bring something to give to them like little cakes and snacks to munch on.

He likes spending time with me even if we're just driving off together to do an errand or just sitting still somewhere or just having a meal somewhere. He likes the company. When he has something to drop off, he usually asks me or my brothers to go along with him for a drive. I sometimes go with him. He would turn the a.m. radio on and I would switch it back off again because I'd rather have silence than listen to something that I don't like. We'd just sit in silence together. He and my mother would sometimes pick me up from business school when I finish late and we'd go to "Alex III" to eat "Lengua" (pig's tongue) drowning in gravy.... Have I mentioned that I like gravy? Have I? Sometimes, we'd go to "San Fransisco Steak House" and have a nice big juicy steak. Again, drowning in gravy.

A couple of years ago when I went back to Phili to visit my family when I was still going to uni here in Australia, my dad wanted to take me shopping and just spend time with me but I selfishly refused. I was so in need of alone time that I missed out on reliving those moments with him. I regreted that so much. It made me longed for those days when my dad used to take me to the local cemetery when I was no more than 10 years old. We would just sit on the hill looking over the stones and the trees as the breeze caresses us. My dad would light a cigarette as we sit there enjoying each other's company. There were other times that he would also drive me to the field to watch the cows eat grass. Me being young and innocent, watched in fascination. Those two special moments are very clear in my head and I can still see it.

I miss him.