This is one of my
favorite photos of my
father. My father loved the
ocean. When I was a child,
we often went swimming. One
time Papa and I went to his
native town of Atimonan, Quezon
Province. We were there for a few
days. The house we stayed at was
very close to the sea. We went
swimming everyday. I was around
eight or nine then. Lolo Biyo, Papa's
father, had recently died. That was
the very first time that a relative of mine
died and I was just starting to get a grasp
of mortality. We were on the shore one
day, looking at the sea, and I just told Papa,
"I don't want to you to grow old and die, Pa.
I also don't want to grow old. I'm afraid to die."
He said, "Well, everybody grows old and dies,
Irene. But you and I will not die yet, not for a very
long time." Now, being a mother to three children,
my two older boys have gone through the same phase.
When they were both about that same age, first Reggie,
and then Ryan, there was a time that they kept asking me if
they were gonna die. I always remembered that conversation
with Papa by the ocean whenever they asked me about their
mortality. I told them the same thing Papa told me that day.
I told them the same thing every time they asked.
