Missing You Still

I think the last time I blogged about Dad was a year ago. Today is his 10th death anniversary. Can’t believe it has been that long. I could still imagine him  sitting in a corner  or at the garage while perusing the news for the day. His vision became normal once he had that eye operation years and years ago.  Yes, he loved reading the newspaper from cover to cover.  You can talk about anything under the sun and he would gladly share his experiences  about life, how he struggled in his studies so he could be employed in a nice  and stable institution like the University of Santo Tomas where my siblings and I all studied from high school to college.

Today is another day of remembering those long ago days full of nice and beautiful memories.  My  two brothers except our youngest (who spent his elementary years here in Manila)  were left  in the province with our maternal grandmother when Mom would spend a few months with Dad.  We would always look forward to summer vacations and December break when there were no classes and Dad would come home for a week or two to spend the days with us. He used to take night trips. It was nice to wake early  in the morning seeing his face while drinking a hot cup of rice coffee.  Those were also the days when we would come to Manila with him and Mom and spend the rest of summer vacation  with them. We all transferred to the university during our high school years. I remember taking the bus to our place in Quezon City and dad would accompany me to the bus stop before one in the afternoon before going back to the office. When I was in first year and second year high school, Mom came back to the province to  stay with my two younger  brothers. We had no refrigerator so Dad would drop by the wet market  every day before going home to buy  something for dinner and for breakfast the following day.  I learned those basic recipes from him  when I was in high school.

I grew up reading those Mills and Boon romance books  back in the early seventies.  Dad would borrow some at their high school library and he would return them  back after a week.  I graduated on those romance books when I got to college and  did a two-year stint as a student librarian at the university. That was where I was introduced to more serious reading. I was surrounded by Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, literature and fiction books.The happy years growing up with books.

The pain of losing him would always linger, but the memories, the good memories would remain in my heart forever. I will always remember those words of wisdom. They have some shaped my life to where I am now.

I’ll always keep you in my prayers dad. Missing you …. still!

 

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