mom, dad & me

it has been a while since i last wrote about my family here. probably brought on by a tepid fever, and the associated homesickness. nothing quite turns a gutsy guy into a blathering baby like a touch of illness. the smallest hint of a restless cold, or a subsequent rise in core temperature, and i start missing home, and some fawning attention.

of course i exaggerate about the fawning. mothers come built in with a seventh sense for detecting when kids are feigning sickness, when kids have been sneaking off to play pool during class hours, when kids are helping her in the kitchen coz they have a report card due soon, and so on and so forth. at such times, she adopts a stern tone and a few biting comments tends to brace one up like the proverbial boot in the butt.

as you might have discerned by now, Madre del Dios (literally, Mother of God) is a battleaxe, and my constant run-ins with her iron-fist in iron-glove temperament have left her with a few worry lines on her venerable forehead, and me with the cheery wit of the indefatigable wisecrack. i was totally dominated until the age of 11, when a book, a bunch of classmates and a pretty girl, aided and abetted by hormones that lead a boy's voice to crackle and pop with a confused baritone, led me to break the shackles and be my own man etc. or so i thought, as she still retains the role of Queen of the Empire, and can still make me cringe like a manacled hyena when she raises her voice over the phone line, a million or so miles away.

the pater on the other hand is an ode to diplomacy. he adopts the quintessential "Yes dear" tone and calmly walks away from the path of destruction Hurricane Mom wreaks, hair and poise unruffled. his solutions to all my issues and problems? "grab us a couple of beers sonny, the game's on"!

no matter how old one gets, one does tend to miss that rollicking home, sitting calmly with dad in the eye of the storm while mom fires salvo after salvo, quite like playing Battleship with both hands tied behind your back. really looking forward to going back home again, some time.