My One Wish: To Dine With My Father Again

9/25/19


Chuckie Dreyfus recently shared a video where he and his daughter Ella played a game "How well do you know me?" over lunch and I suddenly missed my dad. While watching the video, I got to ask myself, 

How well do I know my dad?
Have I exerted effort knowing the extraordinary and mundane things about him?
What is his favorite color?
Have we had as much conversations as we want to have over meal time?

Many families don't get to eat dinner (at least) together. Every member get caught up with their busy schedules that they don't even see each other anymore. Some children would rather spend time with friends while the parents work all the time.

Reminiscing the days when my father was still alive, I realized that we were lucky to live in an era when there were less distractions. The only form of entertainment was the television. I watched basketball on tv with my dad. His favorite team is San Miguel. Later on, he became a Ginebra San Miguel fan. If we were watching Sunday games, he always had a bottle of ice cold San Miguel beer and peanuts. I have ice cold soda and peanuts. And we’d talk while watching. Like he was Joe Cantada and I was Andy Jao. My nickname was inspired by basketball player Lim Eng Beng. This is my favorite childhood memory of bonding with him. 

My family always ate dinner together. We wait for my dad to arrive from work. We talked about random stuff. My conversations with my dad were anything about my elbow and knees should not be dirty to I should not divulge the political candidate I voted for. 


When my mom passed away, I got to spend more time with dad and I remember he loved making fun of the food I cook. If he chanced upon me cooking adobo, he'd say, "Ang bango ng niluluto mo na pinakbet" just to tease me. We would then enjoy the meal (most of the time, pinagtyatyagaan lang haha!!) But just like Chuckie and Ella's favorite ulam, me and my dad also love fried chicken. And if I don't want to be palpak, my pantry never runs out of Crispy Fry.

I miss my dad so much. Every single day. If I can have one wish, it is to have a chance to dine with my father again. I long for the crazy topics and the meaningful conversations while enjoying a hearty meal.

My piece of advice: Don't just eat. Engage in conversation.

Parents, make meal time an opportunity to get to know your children more. They grow up so fast and they change. What they like a few years ago may not be the same thing anymore.

I'm sharing with you the video created by Ella (yup! she took over her dad Chuckie's vlog!) and it's so fun to watch. You'll feel the genuine bond between father and daughter. And they discovered that there are things they thought they knew about each other.


You should also play the "How well do you know me?" with your kids over meal time and you'd be surprised with how much or how little you know about each other.