Now he's 18
Today is Sean's birthday. He's turning, what, 18, and it's still hard to believe. My younger brother is a growing man.
One of the things I probably regret during my childhood is that I never got the chance to be close to him, inasmuch as I've always been close to Manong Ralph. In a sense, it was because our interests were clashing. Sean wanted to watch Cartoon Network; I was hooked to BBC. Or he wanted to play outdoors; I wanted to read indoors. And the only times we got together was during those time when I'd be away for a while and a couple of days after I returned. After that, we were always back to our old ways.
I had the penchant for making his life miserable. Far from being angelic (as some family friends thought), I was a horrid, cruel boy. I would come close to Sean and distract him with irritating sounds from my throat. Or I would lambast him with insults whenever Tatay asked me to tutor him with chemistry.
But he had his share of wrongdoings, too. When we were young, he stole my pillow, the one I occasionally talked to before I slept. He stole it, for no apparent reason, and, being lame and weak, I couldn't get it from him, else I'd suffer the pain of his punches. He also destroyed the toy train that a classmate from nursery gave me. When I lent it to Sean, it was running with a well-oiled engine; when he gave it back, the railways were chopped off.
But we've grown older and wiser, I guess. We could only look back at the past at something we can heartily laugh at. What were we thinking those days?
I praise God for how he was worked in my brother's life. He's in Davao, training to be a dentist. So far, I hear he's doing well. "A late bloomer," my mother always says.
Because we're at the opposite poles of the country, we only converse through text or email, or I usually call him whenever I have the chance to. His voice has grown coarser and fuller, and it makes me just wonder if he looks any older than his premature 21-year old brother.
For his birthday, I pray that Sean would become a godly man who lives his life only for God's glory.
Happy birthday, Sean!
One of the things I probably regret during my childhood is that I never got the chance to be close to him, inasmuch as I've always been close to Manong Ralph. In a sense, it was because our interests were clashing. Sean wanted to watch Cartoon Network; I was hooked to BBC. Or he wanted to play outdoors; I wanted to read indoors. And the only times we got together was during those time when I'd be away for a while and a couple of days after I returned. After that, we were always back to our old ways.
I had the penchant for making his life miserable. Far from being angelic (as some family friends thought), I was a horrid, cruel boy. I would come close to Sean and distract him with irritating sounds from my throat. Or I would lambast him with insults whenever Tatay asked me to tutor him with chemistry.
But he had his share of wrongdoings, too. When we were young, he stole my pillow, the one I occasionally talked to before I slept. He stole it, for no apparent reason, and, being lame and weak, I couldn't get it from him, else I'd suffer the pain of his punches. He also destroyed the toy train that a classmate from nursery gave me. When I lent it to Sean, it was running with a well-oiled engine; when he gave it back, the railways were chopped off.
But we've grown older and wiser, I guess. We could only look back at the past at something we can heartily laugh at. What were we thinking those days?
I praise God for how he was worked in my brother's life. He's in Davao, training to be a dentist. So far, I hear he's doing well. "A late bloomer," my mother always says.
Because we're at the opposite poles of the country, we only converse through text or email, or I usually call him whenever I have the chance to. His voice has grown coarser and fuller, and it makes me just wonder if he looks any older than his premature 21-year old brother.
For his birthday, I pray that Sean would become a godly man who lives his life only for God's glory.
Happy birthday, Sean!
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posted on June 22, 2008
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