Remembering Dad

Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” is both a book and a movie (This can be viewed at YouTube) which celebrates the dreams of his childhood that he has realized. “The Last Lecture” is Randy’s farewell lecture at Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 before he died of cancer in 2008. He delivered this lecture specifically for his three little children – the oldest then was Dylan at five years old – so when they get older they will know who their father was and hopefully they will learn lessons from Randy's life as a son, father, teacher and computer science professor.

After reading the book and watching the movie, I reflected about my past and my own father. My Dad also died very early at only 43 years old, when I was just only nine years old. What do I remember about him? Not so much now, but there are still images of him that really stick in my memories. Let me share a list of ten memories about him..

• He is strict and a disciplinarian. He keeps a narra wood which we were afraid he may use whenever he gets angry at us. But he never used it on us – not because we were behaved but because he loved us.


• He loves to tease people as a sign of his fondness (“lambing”) for them. He calls his closest friends and relatives names like “Kotat”, “Bulugan”, “Kukang”.


• He loves watching movies – only English movies, no Tagalog movies. I remember our regular trips at the movie houses in Cubao (Odeon, Remar, New Frontier) and Avenida (Dynasty, Galaxy, Cinerama, Ideal, Podmon).


• He loves to cook and eat. I remember that he loves to grill a specific type of fish similar to the Sanma in Japan and cooks adobo of a certain type of bird which he always buy whenever we come from Pampanga. He likes roasting chestnuts during Christmas.


• He loves San Miguel Beer. Every night he drinks one bottle of beer.


• He loves dogs – specifically the German Shepherds. Our dogs then were named Laika and Brutus. We have cages at the back of our house built for these dogs.


• He loves taking photos of his family and friends. We have family photo albums and in most of the pictures he is not there coz he’s the one taking them.


• He loves going outing with relatives usually swimming at Los Banos’ hot spring pools.


• He wants his kids to enjoy life with various activities and toys. He taught me how to play chess. He brought us to swimming lessons at San Beda College. I remember when in a toy store he asked me and my Kuya to choose the toy we want for Christmas. I chose a plastic military Jeep (similar to the Rat Patrol) and my brother got a wooden train.


• He was proud of his children. I remember occasions where he wants his friends to see my brother and I to show-off in a gun draw.

I wonder how will I be remembered by my two kids as a father. Geof, in the recent “Father and Son Day” at Ateneo, wrote me a letter and thanked me for teaching him in his Math lessons. I hope Geof becomes good in Math. That will be my legacy to him.