my ally called dad
Let me tell you about this man.
14 years, 6 months a couple days and 3 minutes ago, when the 2 lines appeared, i was feeling sick in the stomach. i wasn’t exactly ready for it, feared i didn’t have the makings of a good mom, and i was in the brink of throwing up due to nausea — literally. and he held my hand. at the right time, at the right place. pogi points #1. after Alexis’ first photo was taken, and we had to walk to the cashier to pay for the bill, all that mattered to me at that moment was to get to that chair…nausea hits again. as he rushed along towards the chair with me, he had this silly looking smirk on his face that i couldn’t help but notice. “what’s with your face?” i gruntly asked. “i’m happy” he just said. pogi points #2. he doesn’t like to read books. but he made that trip to the bookstore ALONE to purchase a pregnancy book (for me), wrote my name on it and READ IT. it was amusing to see him hold up a pea pod and say out loud ganito pa lang siya ka liit o! pogi points #3. and as my belly grew and the discomfort grew as well, he just read every book there is and trusted his instincts to help me along. gave the best back massages, bought Angelino’s pizza right before closing time, rub my belly to STOP me from scratching it, spring bounce from the bed in the wee hours of the morning to stretch out my cramping leg, let me do my fetish of plucking his growing beard, pulling me at just the right time before passing out over a tower of Planters’ cheese curls at the Duty Free…..pogi points #s 4 5 6 7 8 & 9. and when the time came, oh, he was prepared. with paper and pen on hand to monitor contraction intervals, he also had scrabble on stand by. (a page on one of the pregnancy books suggested that during labor, to help ease the mother’s stress over the labor pains, distract her by playing soothing music or share stories or play scrabble… o ha!) and he in fact asked me: want to play scrabble, Ta? pogi points #10.
while he failed to see all his kids soon after they were born, due to miscalculation of the length or shortness of my labor (Sir, kumain muna kayo, matagal pa po ‘to. 2cm palang po eh –NOT), he has seen his kids through, first day of school, attempted pony tails, doctors’ and ER visits, math homeworks, bullying, vacations, diaper change, baths, burping, midnight feeding, first IV insertion, basketball games, circumcision, sports, air sickness and a whole lot more.
he is my affiliate, my ally in this business of child rearing.
he is my husband and the father of our four children.
i am resisting the urge NOT to greet you on this day because i am trying to understand why you never did greet me on the universal day for mothers.(or is it more of a payback?) i remember how you reasoned: eh, you’re not my mom naman e. hmp. fine.—- (silence) —– but it is just seven in the morning, and not only can i contain myself from greeting you, but have the whole world (wishful thinking that the whole world does visit my blog) understand that even if you’re not my dad, you are a dad i salute and i honor you on this day. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY.
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