"We're having a baby," my seven-year-old son, Reggie, announced to my father-in-law that summer of 1997 after we came from the doctor's office. I was sort of embarrassed because I knew that Tatay would figure out that my baby was conceived while he was staying with us -- while he slept in the next room. He was here in Winnipeg on a tourist visa for five months. More
"The first seven years of a child are the formative years," said one of my college instructors. I wondered if that was the reason we Filipinos throw big parties for the seventh birthday of a child -- to celebrate the end of those formative years? Mama threw a big one for my sister when she turned seven. She didn't do that when I did. More
