Unexpected

“The key to a man’s heart is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time.”

After a month-long preparation, last Saturday, we have given our Tatay, his most unexpected birthday party ever. Even some of us were caught unaware of the guests who showed up. Close friends and relatives all come to join our Tatay who celebrated his 78^th birthday.

Me and my siblings reserved a private resort here in Paranaque and arranged everything from food and drinks to invitation of guests and presentations. Tatay had no idea what is in store for him. So when he arrived at the place, he was kind of wandering why he was brought there. When he finally opened the gate, he was surprised more than ever. All of us who were standing there shouted “Happy Birthday!”

Tatay was amazed when he saw the crowd. He saw some relatives from Samar, his nieces and nephews, cousins and grandchildren. He also saw the contingent from Looban, our neighbors back in Palanan. He saw his brother and his family and most importantly, he saw us – his own family. He couldn’t help but shed a couple of tears. We all knew that those were tears of joy and that was all we wanted to see from him.

Tatay was treated with some surprise numbers from his ‘apos’. Ina, Kat, Hanna and Sam danced their way to Super Bass while my kids especially Nicole stole the spotlight when then taught everybody else how to dougie. My Ate Jo tried to sing my Tatay’s original composition of ‘Kusinero’ but she couldn’t get the words clearly, and guess who rescued her – of course my Tatay. And that was indeed totally unexpected!

I also made a simple movie presentation which was shown during lunch. Highlight of which were interviews from his ‘apos’ overseas.

Tatay is currently battling a serious ailment, the mother of all his battle. He is weak and unable to stand or walk for a long time but we never saw him feel pain that day, perhaps it is because of his strong personality and big heart.

When my father took the stage, we all knew what we wanted in the first place and we saw that in him during his speech – it is for him to enjoy the moment. To see him smile at us was more than enough rewards and bonus for all of us. We never expected that we will have our early Christmas gift.

To our loving Tatay, Happy Birthday! We all love you!