If it weren't for this man, I have no reason to celebrate Valentines.

Thanks for filling up my lonely spot for 28 years, Dad. Because there is you (the rest of the family and Jesus), I have no reason to be really lonely at all.

Valentine's Day was never a romantic event for me. For one, I was never romantic. Second, I never had any romance (see first statement). NBSB. For real. For the whole 28 years.  And it feels to bad that all that need for lovering is sinking in just now, just right now, in a whole bad lump. But it's just too good that all those empty spaces are filled up by the love of God ringing through my ears each morning and the sight of a family living each day in patience, forgiveness and encouragement, led by a jolly fat man a.k.a., my dad.

If there is any reason why I should celebrate Valentine's day, it's because love exists, and one main evidence is my earth-dad, who is also born this day.  And while I am organizing my brain on how blessed I am to have this plump, happy-soul of a man as my dad, here are a few things I am thankful for:

• I am thankful for the mornings when he shuts off the light outside my bed. There are also the mornings when he puts his hand on my head and blesses me for the day. I know my days go well, because I earn the blessing from his warm, plump hand, glowing with love and joy that overflows from his heart.


• I am thankful for the smiles he have whenever he comes home, no matter how weary he was at work, how stressed he was with his chores, and how people failed him. There's always that smile that says "I'm home and this is where my joy is at its best." It's a happiness-triggering smile, really. If a man like him, filled with so much work, labor and burdens enter his home with a warm jolly greeting, he must really be a strong man.


• I am thankful for the talks. There are sudden, random talks, sometimes with repetitive topics that my brother would just want to scratch his head and ask, "you're saying that again?" But the thing is, he's always reminding us to have faith, to persevere, to be patient, to keep on dreaming, and to remember that whenever we come crashing from our towers, there's always a pair of hands ready to catch us.


• I am thankful for the family devotions. You know, we get to speak at our turns but his finale always kind of settle our unsettling arguments (me, my mom and my brother have a way of stirring things with our own notions, which in their own respect, are true). He's our peacekeeper, our calmer, so he ends up everything in harmony so that ideas will always compromise into something more unifying.


• I am thankful for the things I am not even noticing, because my dad loves doing the littlest things with such joy that they somehow become big things.

I am thankful for you.

I always thought that, if I had any bit of idea how good my Father in Heaven is, it's because I see His goodness reflected on your face. You are my glimpse of my Father in Heaven. And though you are not perfect as He is, I love you in all your imperfections, when turn quiet when mama dawdles, when you give Jett a heart attack with your driving directions, when you snore in the middle of watching your favorite show, and so on. You are human, yet a slice of how my Great Dad is. Maybe a little atom or a particle of His Awesomeness, but a slice is a slice, and nothing beats that.

Happy birthday, Papa.