Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the way you think it is. Having more than just one dad to greet is perhaps one of the perks exchange students like me enjoy—not only do we get to explore other countries and cultures; we also get to meet people so significant, they’ll forever be etched in our hearts and minds.
So, again, I have three fathers: A papa, a dad, and an otou-san. Let me tell you about them.
First off, here's Fernando Cabristante, my Papa and biological father. Perhaps one of the most heartwarming stories I've heard about him from my mother was his effort to buy me milk when I was born on Christmas Day 1993—he had to walk from drugstore to drugstore, most of which were closed at the time. Throughout my life he taught me to never give up on my dreams, because his life story itself is an example of that.
Now that we've been apart for almost a year since I left home to work here in Manila, he often calls me up to check on how I am—and more recently, called in the middle of our NBA Finals game coverage to ask who won between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Freelands were my host family for two weeks, long enough for me to consider them like a second family. Dad is totally different from the typical American fathers usually depicted in Hollywood movies—after all, he told me, "We're ordinary people. The people in Hollywood are crazy." He first introduced us to an authentic American cookout when he let us grill a couple of burger patties, while he fixed a remote control car we had fun playing with. We were both dog lovers, and we used to take their pet dogs Buck (part German Shepherd) and Oliver (a Rottweiler) out for a walk in the park. Dad and I shared a lot of memories together and I cried so hard when it was time to leave at the end of our exchange program.
And here's another fun fact: A few weeks after the program, my Mom told me Dad was on the road... touring with Irish rock band U2 all over the States.
If you know Nippongo, perhaps you would've figured out by now where my third father, or otou-san, comes from. He's Manabu Hattori, a farmer who lives in the peaceful town of Hino in the Shiga prefecture, around an hour away from Tokyo. I got to live with him and his family, again as an exchange student, back in the summer of 2012.
It was pretty tough for us to communicate as he didn't know English; he even first asked us when we met: "Nihongo ga wakaru?" (Do you understand Japanese?) The language barrier, though, didn't stop us from making good memories with him and the rest of the Hattori family. Thanks to otou-san, we got to experience some Japanese customs first-hand, such as the traditional Kendama toy and the act of turning off the lights before someone blows his birthday candles. I only got to live with the Hattoris for a weekend, but we got so close together it seemed that we'd known each other for years.
If there's anything I've learned about having three fathers from different parts of the globe, it's this: the definitive basis of family is love, not blood. And this love so profound transcends cultures, races, and even language barriers.
Whether you have three, or ten, or just one Dad, don't forget to greet him a happy Father's Day today. Because having a Dad is perhaps the best thing anyone in this world can experience.
source: gmanetwork.com
