The Papa I Knew...

Filed under Papa Self


It's that time of year again when we allot one day to pay tribute to that one man we hold most dear to our hearts..., our fathers.

Truth be told, I have always considered myself a Mama's boy. Thus, I will not be honest if I say I was close to Papa when he was still with us. Much of what I know about him are just things I heard from Mama or my sisters and my brother. The rest, I learned from those rare occassions I got to spend time with him.

It is for this reason that I've always felt that if there's one thing I wished I had done, it is to have tried to get to know Papa more and him to get to know me. But thinking this, I realize that this may have been one of a few (or maybe a lot, I could only guess) that we had in common. We both value our privacy and our solitude. And I feel that we're both satisfied not having to say what's no longer needed to be said. Maybe to a certain extent, we already knew each other without uttering much.

In any case, in the occassion of Father's Day which falls this coming Sunday, I wish to share this song which has been special for me from the very first time I heard it. For some reason, it's always been Papa who comes to mind everytime I listen to or sing along with this song.

Maybe it's because the lyrics kind of illustrate Papa the way I knew him...




You don't know him
Like I know him
He must be allowed to stand proud
If you shame this man and make him crawl
He'll be no man at all...
No man at all

And he's gotta be someone
Who wakes every morning
And takes on the world for a whim
Who touches your hand and
makes you fall for only him

and he's gotta be someone
who's strong as a lion
yet sweet as a meadowlark song
who makes any dream seem
like you'd love to go along

Oh, everything about him is a contradiction
Built a boundless empire
with a heart of a child
I'd trade it all if I could just recall
the last time the emperor smiled

and he's gotta be someone
who burns with a passion
that never, ever sets him free
Oh please say tonight might
relieve him of his misery
and bring that someone I knew
to me...
-He's Gotta Be Someone
Lea Salonga
Little Tramp-The Musical

DOWNLOAD THIS SONG




On behalf of Ate Riza, Beng, Oding & Jon-Jon...


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, PA!

Wherever you are now (in the company of Mama & Ron John), we will continue to send to you our love and gratitude for all the things you have done for us.

We are who are now, and we will be whoever we'll become, because of everything you have been to us.

And for me to be even just half the man you have been, will be my lifelong honorable goal...




Papa
Father's Day