Category: Family

Family by danDAman

Meryenda Time

smithbites photo, pan de sal
photo courtesy of smithbites.com

At three in the afternoon, after the 3 o’clock habit prayer, we’d usually hear a booming voice from a block away.

“ELA! ELA!” In short explosive baritone you’d think it was from a military staff sergeant. Everybody calls him Kuya Bak even if he was our lolo. He had a mean, tough face that has seen war and dealt death in the war zone. He survived the Japanese occupation fighting for our country’s freedom.

He is calling for his wife, Perla, for the afternoon snack, meryenda. Ate Ela, will have to stop

Continue reading Meryenda Time
An Opinion On Anything by danDAman

The Love We Receive

20140728-180630-65190083.jpg

It was 1998, I had a green Alcatel phone that was shaped like a soap. It rang with Ma’am Yoli on the opposite line. It was 9 am and she said she had donuts.

I, on the other hand, had nothing. I had nothing going on. I was 20, and I felt like I was running out of opportunities. Out of college, I tried to work in hopes of getting to a college with a course I like. It didn’t happen.

At that moment I had donuts. It was a bait. A lure to get me back in Bulacan State. I don’t know much about Ma’am Yoli, except for that genuine interest for my stories.

Continue reading The Love We Receive
An Opinion On Anything by danDAman

If I Had Known Then…

20140627-162807-59287326.jpg

My father was a big man with big heavy arms who doesn’t like to sleep with the lights on but is afraid of the dark. He doesn’t like to sleep alone. And he’d lock me with his burly arms like logs… Snoring logs. Now I realize how overwhelmingly happy such gesture makes a father. I always want to hug my daughter and son till I doze off. I know they are feeling how I felt then. I try to explain or control the need to keep them within reach. Some things are only seen when you’re at the other side of the fence.

Continue reading If I Had Known Then…
poetry by danDAman

The Impostor

20140603-001214-734339.jpg
photo credit: kukulyaci.com

 

“Sana ang tubig kong panligo’y galing sa balon”

 

It was a nightly ritual. A 5 minute cold shower. My father had a practical, almost mechanical response to douse off body heat.  Maybe this is caused by high blood pressure. Were these ignored signs of the early stages of aneurysm? Seeking medical help was either impractical or an admission of weakness.
“You know what would be better?”he said, closing his eyes and massaging his temples.
“Sa Mabitac, anlamig ng tubig, gagaling ang sakit ng ulo ko don”

Continue reading The Impostor
Family by danDAman

The Gray Son

20140524-112531-41131353.jpg
original photo from etsy.com by nicole houff

My dad wasn’t happy when he saw me playing with a Ken doll, Barbie’s boyfriend. It was given  by Tito Yol, an OFW, after giving my sisters and cousins Barbies. He had three daughters and it is only understandable if he didn’t buy toys for boys on his way back as pasalubong. He was a cool uncle who maybe thought that a Ken is no different from a G.I. Joe. Honestly, then as a 4 year old, and now at 36, I don’t see the difference either. Only in between, when i was starting to learn genetic differences and physiological tendencies were it an issue.

The Ken in question was a cowboy complete with guns, boots with spurs and a white plastic hat. My dad thought it was offensive for his only son, the son of a king from the mean streets of Mabitac, Laguna to be running around with a cowboy doll with his sisters. He did stop questioning the whole situation one time when he saw me playing alone with Ken and Barbie. Except that they were naked. And Ken was on top. I guess some curiosity about sexuality is more acceptable than others.

Continue reading The Gray Son