Anniversary
Nineteen years ago, my dad passed away, a victim of cancer. A disease well known to everybody. No cure, just remission from the erratic cells that wreck havoc to one's body. It took me years to get over his passing. I have visions of the two of us going fishing and doing woodworking. Stuff I made up in my mind watching the Waltons on t.v.
He loved woodworking. I remember the carvings he did back in the Philippines. They were really nice stuff and they hung in our living room. Guess what they were? Ducks with sheet metal wings. LOL. All hand made with minimal amount of tools. He made us wooden blocks when we were kids. He painted them red, blue and green. He was always making things for us. He even made us math flash cards. Stuff people buy he made by hand. We have a set of stampmarks and he made those flash cards so that we can be quick on our toes with multiplication and division.
He made us wood rifles becuase we kept breaking those platic M16 rifles. He even added a notch so we can pretend that we are changing the magazine made of another block of wood. They were heavy toys. After a summer of playing with them I guess they ended up in grandma's wood kitchen. LOL, need wood to cook and feed the fat kids.
When I was 16, I imagined that when we get our lives squared away in the US and we can afford to buy those power tools, he can teach me how to make those carvings. Unfortunately, the dream will not come true. On the other hand, a cousin of mine in North Carolina was telling me how he watched dad do all those wood working and leather work. He's the one doing it now. He even made a gun holster for his .44 magnum handgun. It really blew me away, I didn't know dad will influence someone outside his family. My cousin's father deserted them when he was young so I guess he adapted my dad as a father figure.
On cold winter evenings, dad will be outside with the hibachi grilling some pork with Ilokano marinade. Man, I miss that marinade. I never asked him the recipe, so it's gone forever. With all the pork and molasses candy dad ate during his lifetime, I was surprised heart attack didn't get him first. He loved eating pork snout and stuff like that. Yuck.
Well, he and mom are together now, God bless them.
Nineteen years ago, my dad passed away, a victim of cancer. A disease well known to everybody. No cure, just remission from the erratic cells that wreck havoc to one's body. It took me years to get over his passing. I have visions of the two of us going fishing and doing woodworking. Stuff I made up in my mind watching the Waltons on t.v.
He loved woodworking. I remember the carvings he did back in the Philippines. They were really nice stuff and they hung in our living room. Guess what they were? Ducks with sheet metal wings. LOL. All hand made with minimal amount of tools. He made us wooden blocks when we were kids. He painted them red, blue and green. He was always making things for us. He even made us math flash cards. Stuff people buy he made by hand. We have a set of stampmarks and he made those flash cards so that we can be quick on our toes with multiplication and division.
He made us wood rifles becuase we kept breaking those platic M16 rifles. He even added a notch so we can pretend that we are changing the magazine made of another block of wood. They were heavy toys. After a summer of playing with them I guess they ended up in grandma's wood kitchen. LOL, need wood to cook and feed the fat kids.
When I was 16, I imagined that when we get our lives squared away in the US and we can afford to buy those power tools, he can teach me how to make those carvings. Unfortunately, the dream will not come true. On the other hand, a cousin of mine in North Carolina was telling me how he watched dad do all those wood working and leather work. He's the one doing it now. He even made a gun holster for his .44 magnum handgun. It really blew me away, I didn't know dad will influence someone outside his family. My cousin's father deserted them when he was young so I guess he adapted my dad as a father figure.
On cold winter evenings, dad will be outside with the hibachi grilling some pork with Ilokano marinade. Man, I miss that marinade. I never asked him the recipe, so it's gone forever. With all the pork and molasses candy dad ate during his lifetime, I was surprised heart attack didn't get him first. He loved eating pork snout and stuff like that. Yuck.
Well, he and mom are together now, God bless them.
