Fatherly talk

Tito Rey (Ate Epie’s dad) passed by the house late in the afternoon yesterday. He was telling me of a possible income-generating situation and after a while we got to talking about other things.

He talked about his life when he first came here. He was well-off back in the Philippines — he owned a gas station and lived in a nice house — but he still came here. He endured having to work mediocre jobs. As years passed he slowly found himself getting better jobs with better pay, until finally, he got a job at American Airlines. He has since retired from that job (actually, just last February).

He then talked about his family, his marriage to Tita Baby, and their life here. He told me that God gave him 80% of what he had wanted and he only had to work harder for the other 20%. He wanted to marry a pretty girl and he got it. He wanted a family, and he got it. He wanted to live a nice life, he worked for it. He knew that he can’t get everything he wanted and yet he considers himself very lucky. And he is.

He told me that before he got married (or was it after?), his father told him never to hurt his wife (physically). If he does, his father would be the first to hurt him. And he never did hurt Tita Baby. Never. They had their shouting matches for sure, but it never became physical. They were married for 40+ years until Tita Baby died last July.

And then he told me not to change the way I am with what I do and how I deal with people. Goodness always wins out in the end, take the high road even if it’s hard, and never take advantage of people or step on anyone’s toes. Of course I already knew these things — I’ve known them since they taught Christian Living in grade school. But I found it quite refreshing and reassuring to be told the same things again. Re-learning something good is certainly better than slowly un-learning it.

An orange and two lemon candies later, Ate Epie came home and they talked for a while. They were discussing the future and my future, which was kind of disconcerting, but I’m grateful that I have people here who truly care about me. It feels like they’ve been more of a family to me than my own and it’s kind of sad to think about it. I’ve yet to hear from my mom (she rarely calls to ask how I am) or my brothers (who are busy with their peachy lives and calls mine crap), and my dad doesn’t even know where I am. So yeah, I’m glad that I have Ate Epie and Tito Rey and everyone else to turn to for support. After all the crap I’ve been through, I’m still very lucky.