To The Greatest Father

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up, my darlings!”

It’s pretty hard to wake up on Sunday mornings and I don’t really know why. Maybe its because of the tiring Saturday to which is my only weekend and or because Sunday is church-day.

Either way, I grew up really hating the norm to wake up at 7am (just hating to wake up that early) to attend our 9am service on Sundays. But to hear his voice and the sweet tone of how he says those “wake up my darling” words would always put a smile on my morning face.

My father was a retired AFP army officer. We grew up the way my father was trained in the army. Discipline, integrity, honesty are just some of the words I learned to live with while growing up. I learned to fight for what is right, assert my rights, voice out what is wrong and stand for my own words. He taught me patience, humility and compassion. When it comes to learning, his favorite line was “Education is the key to success”.

Being a daughter of an officer has its perks too. I was able to ride an airplane for the first time going to CDO, where he was destined. We stayed there for our summer vacation- spent in free night swims, fish-catching, beach swimming, buffets, ostrich and crocodile viewing, mallings, etc. We also stayed again for a summer vacation in Tanay, Rizal where I and my sisters got to experience the soldiers’ obstacle courses and of course- gun firing using the mother armalight. Then just before his retirement, we got to stay in Tarlac. Again there’s swimming, gun firing, golfing, biking and chicken raising. All of those experiences were because of his perseverance in attaining his dream of becoming a high-ranking soldier.

What I love in him the most is his ability to make us understand things every time he and mom aren’t going well. He made me see things differently when it comes to mom. I might have grown with my dad’s principles but he made me realize that I am actually the way I am now because of mom. He made me see that it was mom who was there for us, with us, all these years of growing up. And for that, I would salute him three times.

He told me that life was never easy on him from the very start. He grew up in the mountains of Ilocos, the first of the 11 children of my grandparents. He used to walk bare footed on the way to school which is kilometers away from home. He told us that his family raised cows and crops back then for a living. When my grandparents died, he took the responsibility of raising his other sisters and brothers who are now all successful in their own chosen fields. He told me that the life he experienced growing up, he doesn’t want us to experience, and the life we are experiencing right now, we’ll have to make even better for his grandchildren.

There are times when he thinks of a life better than what we have right now; times when he thinks that he deserve more for what he had accomplished. But at the end of the thought, he would always say “God doesn’t want me to have it because He knows I can’t handle it”. He’s just that, still sees God’s goodness and great purposes in everything. And I saw it too. I saw how God lived in him. I saw that God finds pleasure in him. I saw how God protected him, raised him in his position, blessed him through us, through all the places He brought him into, and all the things He made him experience. I saw how God used him to bless others as well, how he made him an inspiration to a lot of other soldiers, relatives and friends, to us, to me. I saw how God loved him, how He changed him. I see Christ in him.

My father’s name is Ret. Colonel Mario N. Maggay. I never saw him smoked. He drinks beer on rare occasions. He doesn’t accept bribes, even if it was a car. He hates fiction. He loves gardening. He loves the wing part of the chicken. We both love Jollibee fries. And we both wanted Gibo Teodoro to be the president. His favorite song is Fraulein (my parents’ love song). He reads the Bible day and night. And he calls God his “Backer”.

To the man I will always look up to, Happy Father’s day, Dad! You deserve to be called the greatest father of all times! I love you so much! You and mom will always be my second love. Oooops sorry! You made me more in love with your Backer, Dad. I hope you don’t mind!