Papa’s Two-Trick Pony Day (Birthday and Father’s Day in One)

“Dahil sabay ang Birthday mo at Father’s Day, Ultimate Dad ka, Paps!”

Last time, my post was about my wife’s birthday coinciding with Independence Day. Now, here is another special person having a birthday coinciding with another special occasion.

"M" is for Mondi

Meet my father, Ramon. Just like me, he has a lot of nicknames, (Sir Chief, Baby, Mondi, Mon, and my personal favorite, Mon-Ra) but I always prefer to call him Paps, a wordplay of Papa, but without losing the respect to him. The thing is, today is his Birthday and coincidentally, it is also Father’s Day, nice combo huh?!

Since it is two occasions in one, I cannot just let this day pass without writing a little bit about my “Paps” and what he means to me and to our family.

 As a husband, I can say that he is one helluva good husband, kahit na ano ang mangyari, hindi nawawala ang respeto nya kay Mama. Sa totoo lang, mas mahaba pa ang patience ni Papa pagdating kay Mama kaysa sa akin, My Mom can irk me in so many ways possible (It is not her fault, the fault is on me) to the point of breakdown, but my Papa can hold the fort in the coolest manner possible. Isa pang trait ni Papa na hanga ako ay he never ever raised his hand against my mom. Couples have their own share of quarrels, but never has my Papa hurt my mom even if they had bad quarrels. As a married man, isa yun sa mga bagay na sinigurado ko na ma-imitate ko sa Papa ko, ang huwag pagbuhatan ng kamay ang asawa.

Sunny Side up ba yan Paps?....Uh Nevermind

As a father to me and my little sister, my Papa has always been the great provider. Inuuna nya ang kapakanan naming magkapatid bago ang sa kanya at handa siyang magsakripisyo para sa amin. The most evident of that sacrifice is noong magdecide siya na mangibang-bansa (He is working in Saudi Arabia since 1991) para mabigyan kami ng magandang buhay. I was lucky that I was six years old nung umalis siya and I had at least five years na nakasama ko siya ng madalas, unlike ng sister ko na wala pang isang taon ng umalis si Papa. Nakakasama lang ng kapatid ko ang Papa ko ng one month out of a year, tuwing bakasyon lamang niya. Having a daughter now, naisip ko yung hirap ng ganung situation, yung hindi mo nakikita at nasusubaybayan ang paglaki ng anak mo and I can tell you this, hindi sapat ang isang buwan out of a year mo lang makikita ang anak mo. Mahirap  talaga yung ganun and saludo ako sa determinasyon ng Papa ko at kinaya nya yun.

Ngiting mag-Lolo

As a grandfather to my daughter, All I can say is, NO MATCH ako kay Papa. He can school me any day pagdating sa pagiging Tatay. My daughter seems to be fond of her grandpa than his dad sa totoo lang and that goes to show how I must strive to be at least at par with my Papa’s fathering skills.

Sa totoo lang marami pang bagay na testament to how great my father is, but unfortunately, it is going to be a novella if you try to even summarize it in this blog post. One thing is for sure, if you are going to make me describe how a great father should be like, then I am just going to point you directly to my Father because he “IS.”

 To Papa Ramon, Happy Father’s Day and Happy Birthday. Take this post as an open note from me to tell you how I appreciate you being the great husband, father, and grandfather that you are. Tatay na rin ako ngayon, pero so far, hindi ko pa kayang sabihin na I am at your level na sa pagiging “Ultimate Dad”, but I am going to make sure that I will eventually get there because I want to be LIKE you.

“Dahil sabay ang Birthday mo at Father’s Day, Ultimate Dad ka, Paps!”

*Of note, to all the Fathers out there…Happy Father’s Day to all of you and let us strive to be the “Ultimate Dad” that we can become.

Until next time,

Ciao!