My Folks...

I am not the sentimental kind… well, not much. But just for today, I would like to make an exception.

Let me put this through: I love my parents! Whew! Maybe everybody’s wondering why my reaction was such? Well to be frank and academic, many people find it easy to say such; but i my case, her it goes:

My brother and I were raised in such a way that people may find too “old school-ish” even for us (who are already in our 30s). My mother was such a disciplinarian, that even our smallest of mistakes committed when we were little, were almost the same as the “grave” ones, (e.g. misplacing one of my mother’s things at home vs. getting home late in the afternoon). My mother would scold us the whole time! She would never stop, and she would never accept an explanation. She would always say that verbal apologies are for those people who are not sincere, and she would never accept it from us. Somehow, during that time, at such a young age, I felt as if we were being raised in a “pseudo-corporal disciplinary” method. And I have to admit, it has affected me (and my brother) somehow as we grow up.

Through the years, the mode of discipline my mother gave us just got stuck in me. Contrary to my mother’s callous methods, my father is the complete opposite! (unlike other families where the fathers are usually the disciplinarians!). I went through high school (somehow) as a “neophyte” radical! Well, it is a known fact that kids of the late-eighties, and early nineties, try a lot of new stuff at an early age. When I got into high school, let me say, I got involved in: smoking, cutting classes, drinking, getting into fights, joining high school fraternities (not gangsters), getting home late at night, etc. But unlike other kids during that time, even though I went through all the shit mentioned above, I did not take my studies for granted! Well all of these things just made my mother so furious at me, and me (with my seemingly rebellious start up during high school), somehow during that time, it delighted me seeing my mother burst into flames!

College was not an exception. Even though my mother warned me that she will make me stop schooling whenever I started to join a university fraternity, I still went on and joined one! I began to go home on the wee hours of the morning, getting home drunk and sometimes, I was just too darn wasted to remember what just transpired that night. I was a full rebel during that time. But still, unlike the others, even though I was livin’ my life on the edge during that time; I didn’t forget my studies and managed to graduate (a year later than that of regular/academically focused students). Ad mind you, that is one feat no one believed! (Because everybody thought I was Batch ’92, when in fact I was Batch ’94 in college!). Even during my graduation, I still managed to piss off my parents then… And I didn’t give a shit then…

Well, as the years pass, I went on with my life. Got a job right after graduation, and got involved in a multitude of projects through the years, but then something struck me: my folks aren’t getting any younger. As I look at them whenever I am at our house, surely time has taken a toll on them.

My father, still the same, with his jolly smile and warm aura, while my mother, is no longer the way she was… She has grown thin, lost her appetite, and has become quiet nowadays. There would be the sudden bursts of “scolding” from her, but most of the time, she would just sit on our porch and look far.

Then suddenly, I heard a whisper on my ear: “go talk to to your mother…”, but all the years of pride, and bad attitude has hardened me into a rock. I just stood there and left afterwards.

It wasn’t until recently when I brought Lalah home on my mother’s birthday, and then Lalah urged me to get flowers for her! To be honest, I wasn’t comfortable with it… I don’t know why… It just doesn’t fit… But with Lalah’s, persistence, we did got flowers for her, and for the first time in my life, the moment when Lalah and I gave her the flowers, my mother burst in tears… tears-of-joy!

And from that day, my attitude towards my mother changed. She was no longer that boulder-hard lady that was impossible to crack! And all it needed were flowers!

Now, it is just so comfortable seeing my mother and father doing everything together: they would go out together; my mother would take that tricycle ride with my father; they would eat together… During my last birthday, I took them out for a change! My mother was hesitant at first, because she doesn’t like going out late at night for dinner, but they went ahead; we had a great time together!

It’s ironic, but I seem to grasp the true meaning of being with a closely-knitted family, now that I am already in my, well… hehehehe! And it made me realize a lot of things: my attitude, my actions in the past, it made who I am right now; so somehow, though it may not sound nice enough to be appreciated by everybody, I am still thankful for everything! And the one thing that struck me: ” …all it needed were flowers!”

Cheers!

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