Raising Boys

Top of the class March 30, 2006

You stood up when your name was called, a mixture of surprise and gladness on your face. You did not expect this, although you had hoped it would be so and it was. We clapped and urged you on. Overcome by shyness, you did not look at us but proceeded to your rightful place, buoyed by our cheers.

You basked in the spotlight of our praise. You delighted in the acclamation of your peers. You are undoubtedly the best of them all.

My son, I’m proud of you. Congratulations.

(Dylan completes first grade with first honors. The first grade teacher called out one by one the pupils in the honors list during a get-together this morning in school. School closing rites will be this Saturday at 4 p.m.)

In praise of Mactan March 26, 2006

Daylight brings a hotness that is sometimes uncomfortable, to this place I call home. The heat is searing, going deep into flesh, bone, soul. The warm air torments, yet I bask in it like a moth who can’t keep away from the flame.

I have walked its streets, this land of my childhood. No path in this flat, flat land has been spared from my weary feet. No nook of this island has been kept hidden from my prying eyes. No secret has remained undiscovered by my questing mind. I have walked away but have walked back.

I have swam its beaches, this home of Lapu-Lapu. I have lain on its sand, dreaming grandiose dreams. I have stood on its shoreline and wondered about the people who, on that very spot, battled invaders and triumphed, some 500 years ago.

I have felt love, hate, sadness, joy, in this spot of forever. Here, I have cried countless tears and laughed a thousand laughs. Here, I have fought and overcome demons. Here, I have loved and lost and loved again.

I have been seduced by its darkness, this city of clear skies and starry nights. I have looked up its heavens and have been overwhelmed by the blanket of stars spread across its face. I have welcomed its nighttime, that blessed succor from the unyielding light of day.

Other places beckon, but the island holds me firmly in its grasp. One day, I may yet leave but i will never be away.

(This is a very subjective description of Lapu-Lapu. To read more about the city and what it has to offer, click here.)

Of cheaters and cheating March 17, 2006

I’m fuming mad. I’ve been this way since 4 p.m., when I went to Dylan’s school and found out that his English testpaper for the third periodical exams had been switched with another’s. It was so cunningly done, I would have to give credit to the person behind it. He or she is the ultimate cheat.

I don’t usually go to my son’s school in the afternoon but I thank god I did. I would never have found out that someone took his testpaper and left one in its place, one with the name of the owner erased.

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Math elementary level winners

Finally, some much-deserved recognition. A streamer in Dylan’s school congratulates all those who placed in the Math Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP) challenge held last month at the Basak Elementary School in Lapu-Lapu City. My son Dylan and teammate Christ Ian (mistakenly written in the streamer as Christian Ian) Palomares represented the first grade and placed second in the math contest in the division level.

Men and their foibles March 12, 2006

My son’s teacher called us up on Saturday morning to invite my son to her daughter’s birthday party. I was asleep yet so she talked to my son Dylan and told him the party was going to be at McDonald’s at 1:30 p.m.

Dylan was already quite excited at the prospect of going to a party on a Saturday afternoon by the time I woke up so naturally I could not say no anymore.

We stopped at a nearby mall to buy a gift for his teacher’s daughter and then proceeded on foot to McDonald’s with another mom and her daughter. We met them at the mall also buying a gift for the birthday celebrant.

At McDonald’s, we received the surprise of our lives. My son’s teacher was nowhere to be found. Only her estranged husband was there accompanied by, of all people, his girlfriend. It was the longest two hours of our lives. (more…)