From Dawn Till Dusk

Nico and I have been missing Jun for weeks now. Jun has been so occupied lately managing our new business, that, it is eating much of his time, even our family bonding on weekends.

I know I should have understood him more for our family is the most to benefit from this new business. Sometimes though, I just can’t help but feel a little tampo. Our new business kicked off last 14 February, just as when all the couples and families in the world were affectionately celebrating Hearts Day, our Dada and his associates were too occupied in supervising the speedy delivery even before dawn, of newspaper dailies in all outlets of a 24-hour convenient store in Metro Manila. You see Jun is persevering to be 100 percent hands-on in the new business in an aim to give quite a good impression among his clients that his company is very efficient in their delivery services. Because with good impression, he can encourage other publications to finally seal a contract with him for the outsourcing of their newspaper delivery, that would mean more wealth and a swift ROI (return on investments) for the company. To date, Jun is nearing to close another deal with a competitor convenient store that would also involve the same line of service. We hope it would push through, we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

So on V-day, I’d expected we wouldn’t have something extraordinaire at all. This made me feel a little bit depressed because for one, I am a hopeless romantic but nevertheless, I kept being open minded about the situation because again, I knew these things are all for our family’s sake. I took the initiative to text him and ask if he had a date. “Bakit ide date mo ko?” he replied. “Ndi!!!” my quick pakipot na reply. “A ganun ba, sana kasi inaya mo ko kanina para na cancel ko sked ko. Magkikita kami ni Art sa QC. May titingnan kaming second hand na pickup, baka pwedeng magamit as delivery vehicle sa business natin,” Jun replied in my text message. “Hmmp, ang sabihin mo wala ka talagang initiative!”, said me. “Pasensya ka na, alam mo naman businessman na asawa mo. Hayaan mo at babawi ako sa inyo ni Nico pag maluwag na sked ko,” he said. “Ok,” my reply to end the conversation. And so I went home and even as I am a bit low, as always, my Nico wiped away my tiredness and some depression. I cooked Pochero for our dinner then prepared the table for three so that Nico, Yaya and I could already eat. I didn’t expect that Jun would be home for dinner so we were all surprised to see him arrive early. “O akala ko may lakad ka,” I said. “Oo nga, eh natapos agad kami kaya nakauwi agad ako. Tinatagawagan kita sa phone mo, di mo naman sinasagot, yayain sana kita mag dinner eh. Tara dinner tayo,” he said. I was delighted with the invitation but seeing him so haggard and somewhat sleepy (imagine his tiredness having to travel in four Metro Manila routes from midnight to dawn, then having just an hour or two of sleep then get up for his work in the office at 9am), I’d decided that we just stay at home. I believe that just being together as a family on V-day was enough to compensate as a celebration. Our Yaya, who was happy and contented with the ice cream that I brought home for her (I forgot to mention V-day was also our Yaya’s 17th birthday), insisted taking a family picture of us as she said “bihira lang daw na magyari ang tagpong iyon sa bahay”. Yaya Ness meant it’s so rare that we are complete for dinner because usually, Nico and I eat dinner ahead of Jun. Jun often has late dinner meetings in the office so he couldn’t join us for dinner during weekdays as much as he could have wanted to. This was the photo by the way:

The much-awaited weekend came and just when I expected that we’d have enough family bonding time together, it was once again interrupted as some glitches in the new business has to be resolved. We were geared towards going to the newly-opened Fun Ranch in Tiendesitas that day but our excitement was dampened when Jun said he needs to check the deliveries bound for the Southern part of Metro Manila. So on Saturday, we had no other choice but to stay home. To appease Nico’s boredom in the house, I’ve decided that we just do the grocerying in a nearby shopping mall at home after his nap in the afternoon. Then I treat the mag-Ate for some merienda Pizza and spaghetti before going home.

The following day was a Sunday and just like other Christian families, this was our day to going to Church. Unfortunately, Jun had to excuse himself again because his Dad (his financier in the business) wanted to discuss with him the flow of income in the business. And besides, that day was also Lola Maria’s birthday and a small gathering is to be held in my father in law’s home in San Pedro Laguna. We could have opted to go with Jun in my in law’s house, only that I thought it was not good for Nico to be there as most of his cousins, as told by my sister in law, are all sick of coughs, colds and flu. Not that I am being so mean but I am only protecting my son’s health, baka kasi mahawa si Nico ng ubo at sipon sa mga cousins nya. So we’ve decided not to join Jun there. Instead, Nico, Yaya Ness and me pushed with our Sunday to go to church by ourselves then to a gastronomic lunch treat afterwards. There were plenty of time after lunch so we went malling for an hour or two. Nico had a fun time playing at Toys R Us with me and his Ate Ness there (as if he had a choice) and somehow, I regret that Jun wasn’t able to join us. Too sentimental that I am, I can’t help but imagine how Nico would have been happier if his Dada was the one playing with him basketball, bike racing and jumping jacks in the toy store. Sayang talaga, he missed these moments. In the meantime, proxy nalang si Yaya, who in turn doesn’t mind at all playing with Nico as this Yaya of ours is also isip-bata (pa rin):

As for now, our family is on a battle for quality time as Jun is as busy as a bee being hands-on in our new business. He comes home everyday most often at dawn and worst even with the sun already shining. We didn’t have much time now to really sit down and talk even in the morning. He’s very tired and I don’t mind waking him up at all before I go to work because I know that was the only time he could get some sleep before he goes to his full-time work. This working habit of Jun is starting to get me worried though that is why I’d always make it a point to remind him to take his multivitamins every morning. Well, aside from helping him in registering the business name in our Office (but of course) and layouting the company ID, making sure he’s healthy was the least I could to to make him feel that I am fully supportive of him. And I understand too why he can’t keep up with our boundary and quota arrangements with Nico (because we’ve agreed before that even we’re busy at work we would still find time to bond with our son; we have what we called “boundaries” and “quotas”; his boundary would be to join Nico for breakfast and bathe him in the morning and his quota would be to spend time playing with Nico when he gets home; my boundary meanwhile is to at least join Nico for dinner and bathe him and my quota is to be the one to put Nico to sleep at night).

We truly missed him. I just hope that everything will be back to normal by next month (the estimated time that all of Jun’s delivery staff for the four routes are already familiar with their destinations) and I hope too that Jun will keep by his promise to make up for the lost time with us. Nico and I will be patiently waiting.