Happy Father's Day, Tatay!

Today is Father’s Day, and so I want to take this opportunity to re-post and share my letter to him.

Dear Tatay,

For the past two decades that I have been your daughter, please know that I am too grateful being your first born child. I am thankful to GOD because he gave me YOU to be my father, my playmate, my friend and my first love. You should know by now that aside from mama, you are the most influential person in my life. You always tell us that you didn’t finish your education and it may affect you being a good father but I believe otherwise. You’ve been the BEST FATHER any daughter could wish for. You may not set your goals high, but you always see to it that you accomplish them no matter how hard or impossible they seem and that's probably the most valuable thing I've learned from you.

I've always looked up to you, tried to be like you, and continuously find a man like you. I know you're always so humble but given a chance I will nominate you and be given an award for accomplishing many things! You fix everything in and out our house. You cook, you do the laundry, you clean the house and you have taken care us (Lhai and Koko) when Mama needed to go to Hong Kong and worked there for more than two years. You went to Qatar and work there as a construction worker even you are already old enough and always complain about the food (especially the beef stuff) and with the constant change of temperature. Your love and sacrifice is out of this world!

You unconditionally love and adore your children. You may complain when we ask for a “bente pesos” everyday but still you will hand it to us even if “iyon palang ang kinita mo sa pagtatricycle sa araw na iyon”. You patiently wait for your coffee every morning because you have to wait for more than 20 minutes because I have to make a “morning tsismis with Ate Phen” first. You may be annoyed sometimes when we ask you to do some tasks and errands (kasi nga baligtad! kami ang anak, kami ang nag uutos) but you still managed to do them out of love for us. You are always “pikon” when we had those crazy “paulit-ulit” conversations because we together with mama always try to outwit you. You are always opinionated and stubborn but never tired to share your ideas with us. You make us happy.

I'm so blessed to have you and Mama and the relationship we share. You keep our family together. More than together, you keep a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, education at our hands, and more than we need to survive.

You've worked so hard all your life and I just want you to know that it's very much appreciated. We all love you so much. And even though it may seem we stray away a little bit from our family values, we really do listen to you and to mama. Thank you for everything you've done for me and for our family!

I love you so much Tatay and Happy Father's Day!

Still Tatay’s Little Princess,

Mhaimhai