Today is father's day. Haven't greeted my dad yet but in about 30 mins I will cause we are supposed to have dinner in one of the nearby malls. Dinner, yeah you could very well figure that the day is close to being over, it's 6 o clock now yet I haven't come to face to face with my Pops yet. Anyway before dinner I will.
Pops and I didnt actually develop the father and son bond the kind you will actually see(a lot of em) in pictures should you gloss over today's special father's day magazine issues. Some fathers are close to their sons and it's well and good I've no problems with that but ufortunately, I couldn't identify myself as belonging to that group. Dont get me wrong, it's not like any of us is seething with anger or harboring ill feelings towards each other it's just that we weren't able to tread that path where Sundays would be fishing, camping , hiking days between father and son.
I love my Pops. Never did he ignore his role as a provider, as a disciplinarian, as a stern and unwavering face of the family name. He is well respected here in the village and a likeable person. He comes across as a good leader. He may not be the president of the homeowners association but effectively he is. He cares so much for the welfare of the people in our little village he earns everybody's respect. He would often find himself representing our village in the City Hall not cause he was assigned to but it was borne out of the genuine concern towards the people. The telephone landline system was put up here cause Pops found ways. For more than 20 years, no telephone company was able to lay any groundwork for a landline system because of routing issues. Apparently, we needed to pay a certain individual a huge sum of money so that the telcos could use his lot as a conduit to the already established landline backbone. The cost was too prohibitive that nobody shelled out any money. Pops pursued and cooperated with the telco to find another backbone from where we could tap on without having to go through Mr. Lots a lot. Now people here are enjoying the benefits of the internet-landline based.
Pops is the 4th child out of 11. His siblings look upon him as the father figure they sorely missed when their dad, my grandpa, passed away. That says a lot him being the 4th eldest. Pops provides good advices and it is not difficult to believe in what he says cause he has something to show for it. Some people give out advices they've read in self help books and mouth it like a dictaphone. Pops advices are products of his experiences and he comes clean so credibility is not a lingering question to those who will heed it.
Pops and I rarely talk. When I see people asking him for advice, I go dumbfounded. Here is my dad sought after by people remotely related to him by blood, they look up to him, respect him yet here I am, his son, not recognizing this side of him, his value. Pops is a treasure chest of ideas. He may be 67 but he is loadsfull of information both old and contemporary.
He is up to date with general information and he is not afraid using the latest technology. While some people his age will veer away from the thought of using computers and celphones, Pops is agreeable to figuring them out however long it might take. Pops refuse to think that people his age are better off relaxing, resting in a hammock, and sipping some tropical fruit juice. He wont have any of that. He tends our little store all day long so he could chat with people, some of em the ruly(as opposed to the unruly) drunkards, as his way of keeping the boredom from setting in. In the few instances where I snooped in to hear what he was saying, Pops would regale those who would listen, stories of places and people he had gone to/met back when he was working overseas. Pops' delivery is such that he comes out as the knowledgeable one, the authority, and the listener; only too happy to listen to what Pops has too say. It kinda makes you look inferior when you listen in but not in a derogatory kind of way. I guess in so doing, Pops has impressed upon others that he aint a pushover. Intellect can command respect and Pops sure has covered all bases inasfar as letting other people know he has smarts.
It's been almost 10 years since Pops' stroke rendered the left side of his body almost immobile. Pops would walk with a staggering gait, his right side dragging his numb left leg with each step. Though we are thankful he did not go bedridden, it still is a pain to watch my once strong Pops move about rather wobbly. It's so much more about the way he walks than it is about how his present physical state might have affected his resolve that somehow, as his child, disturbs me. Pops won't show resignation over his physical condition. To him it is business as usual. He won't let himself be a burden to us. He opts to be productive and he is doing a fine good job at that. Everyday he would walk a good 2km as his exercise probably in the hopes he will get his old self back or perhaps as a sort of maintenance cause he would sometimes complain that sitting still further creates a numbing effect on the left side of his body. Pops would always exercise his left arm and move it sideways in a circular motion. He has this contraption, a pulley, a handle, and a rope which he would use to pull his left arm then his right alternately as per the advice of the physical therapist.
We just came home from dinner. I treated the family to Chowking. I asked Pops to choose wherever he wants to eat but as always, he picked Chowking. Spicy Chow Fan is heaven, couple that with Spicy Beef wanton noodles and......heaven twice over. It doesn't take a lot to bring a smile to Pop's face. He's always been the humble Batangueno who early on in life took the responsibility as the Father/brother/guardian to his siblings. I'm proud of my Pops. Happy Father's day Pops. Happy Father's day to all!
No comments:
Post a Comment