Father's Day

I am going to share you all one of my life’s chapter even though I’m a bit scared about, I hope it’s going to be of help to some who shares my pain. Well, it’s not painful to me right now as I am happy how my life and my character turned out. Without further ado, let me begin my life story.

I am a product of a broken family. It’s so unfortunate how my parents’ marriage didn’t work out for some reason. I am not going to go into details why it didn’t work as it is their marriage and not mine. Anyway, before the two of them parted ways, I kept a lot of good memories that my father and I shared. I was only 10 when we lost touch so a decade is such a long story but let me cut it down and share you some of the most memorable ones. My father is a good singer and he plays the guitar well too. He was born a musician. When people ask me where I got my voice from, I would say it’s from my papa. I remember when I was in 2^nd grade, I bravely joined a singing contest at school and he was my voice coach. And guess what, I won 2^nd place. It was a joy looking at him when I handed him over my trophy. He also taught me physical activities like biking and swimming. I think I got my athletic side from him. I vividly remember when he taught me how to ride a bike. He was at the back holding my seat when he decided to take out the 2 little tire support. I thought he was there while as I was peddling my way through but I didn’t realize he had let go of me. When I turned at my back and saw no one’s behind me and I’m doing it all by myself, a big smile painted my face. You know when you’re 7 years old, that could be the biggest moment in your life ever. I also remember on New Year’s, he would improvise a long stick and put a clip or sipit at the end of it. We clip the watusi or lusis (kid friendly fireworks) and light it. He allowed us to have some fun but kept us safe. My mom told me how resourceful my dad was improvising toys for himself when his family couldn’t afford to buy him one. Moving on, he also brought some pets at home, a dog and two chicks (sisiw) one for me and one for ate (older sister). That gave us some sense of responsibility while we enjoyed them. Also, he drops me to and off for school and I was excited about telling him how my day went.

My childhood wouldn’t be as fun without my father.  He might not be a good husband but he tried to be a good dad. There was never a time he hurt us physically. Usually it’s the mom who makes palo(spank). Hahaha. His style of disciplining kids was different but we were more terrified of him than our mom when we know we got in trouble.

Fast forward, 11 years after, my father, my mother and my sisters got the chance to meet up again cos we learned that his mother (our lola) died. The day that she died, I saw a butterfly sitting in my bed, then few minutes after we found out about her passing away. Ofcourse, after not seeing each other for so long, there would be awkwardness. But hey, awkwardness is better than bitterness (: Although we didn’t connect right away, I still embraced him warmly and gave him due respect.

Bottom line is, let’s try to be positive rather negative. Look more on the good things than the bad. I know it’s easier said than done but this is possible with a daily relationship with God. Yes bad things happen in our lives, however painful,  it serves a purpose and a lesson. You can never undo the past but we can get back our feet and create a better future. Planting bitterness, hatred or grudges will not do any good in fact it might turn you to a rebellious kind and become the person you dislike. Let go of these and ask God for healing and He will help you mend your heart. He will help you understand and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

If it wasn’t for my father, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have met my wonderful husband. And that’s the reason why after everything that happened, I still chose my father to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day.

I’m also thankful for our Heavenly Father, who makes all things possible –Mt.19:26

Happy Father’s day Papa. I wish you well in all things!

Xoxo,

Joselle