Fond memories

I was in kindergarten and my favorite part of the day was after school when my dad would pick me up on his red motorcycle. Sometimes I had to wait for him because he was delayed at work but I didn’t mind because I had my classmates to play with while waiting. I was offered a ride by one of the parents a few times but I would always refuse because I wouldn’t want to miss the best part of the day…riding with my dad.

During the ride I would tell him about my day. I told him how annoyed I was to our teacher (who was a nun) because she wouldn’t pick the book I brought for story time…It’s been days, I whined. Dad just hmmmed…I told him about writing my name on the board and the teacher said I had a neat handwriting. He said hmmm…and then there was this boy I punched because he was teasing me a lot. He chuckled and said hmmm.

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One afternoon we went to the pier to watch the huge cargo ships. The sun was just dropping in the horizon and the sky was ablaze. Birds were swooping in and out the sky. Some workers were shovelling a small mountain of salt. We walked past them to the vendors selling banana fritters wrapped in banana leaves. Dad bought one for each of us and then we went back to his motorcycle where we sat, ate the banana fritters and watched the sunset.

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Dad would also take me and my sister to the nursery for plants and animals…it was a big place with small rolling hills with drops deep enough to make us feel like we were in a roller coaster. We saw an ostrich, sheeps, cows and horses. There were dogs that scared me so much I couldn’t enjoy animal watching. Their barks were too loud and they kept jumping up and down. On our way home, dad would buy us a big bag of chips. We try to eat them all while on the bike because mom really didn’t allow us to eat too much junk food.

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Dad loves to take pictures…he used to carry around a point and shoot camera and an extra roll of film. He took pictures of the trees, the rice fields, the brown cow he calls “Nueva” and the pigs. He took a photo of a chico tree fallen on its side after a typhoon. I was sitting on one of the branches looking like a waif with a big hole on my shirt…mom wouldn’t have allowed one of her children in a photo looking like that.

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Dad is a Math whiz. In high school I used to ask him how to solve equations in calculus. I wanted him to teach me the shortcut version but he wouldn’t have that. He insisted on teaching me all the long methods. I would end up in tears…not understanding any of the formulas at all but he would carry on explaining patiently, ignoring the tears and snot. Now I know why he did it. And I appreciate him more each day because of it.

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Mom was the one who gave us school money. She handed it to us everyday before leaving for school. Sometimes, after I get the money I would detour to my dad and ask for an extra. He never asked questions even when he knew mom gave me money already. He just smiled and asked how much I needed and gave it to me. My friends said I have the coolest parents. And they’re right.

Today, I was video calling with my dad. He said he and mom were growing corn, honeydew and peanuts. They have food at home and they are safe. They look content. And being so faraway from them, that’s all I can pray for…I want them to stay happy and healthy, always.