Tatang

When I was younger, I thought about getting married early and having kids, simply because I wanted my future kids to have the time of their lives with Mother Goose and Don Domeng.

But that is just a thought.

I am biased towards grandparents. Maybe because I never really had the chance to enjoy my own. In Mother Goose’s side of the family, my Lolo [grandfather] Akong and my Lola [grandmother] Esther died before I was even born. With Don Domeng, I actually lived to see my Inang [grandmother] but I was too young to remember, or maybe I just have poor memory, always have, at least with my personal experiences I do not remember much.

Today is actually the death anniversary of my Tatang. I do not really know much about him, just that Don Domeng takes a lot from him. I saw a photo of Tatang, the one always used during padasal,  when we say prayers in his memory on his death day.

That photo is the only time I see Tatang, but it is a special photo. Well, it is not really a photo but a sketch. I think one of Mother Goose’s former students did that. I like it a lot because when I look at it, I feel a connection with Tatang, that this man is the one who gave us Don Domeng, it is something that I cannot explain completely – or maybe it is love, yes, maybe it is.

Technically, no one in the family knows if today was really the day Tatang died. They just assumed that he died the other day that Don Domeng found his body. I’m not sure if I have the story right but Tatang went missing and was found dead from an ambush.

No, he is not a ninja being chased by some Yakuza people. Tatang accompanied a friend and drove for him. I think it was that friend who was the target and Tatang was at the wrong place, or at least that was some sort of how the story goes.

Don Domeng never really speaks about Tatang. I only know a few details about him, like he does not eat tapa like me, that he also loves animals and agriculture, and that he is also a hardworker, both attributes like Don Domeng and I, though I cannot say I have planted anything in many, many years. LOL.

Oh I remember one story. When Don Domeng was younger, he wanted a bike because he thought it was cool. Tatang did not disappoint him and bought him a bike, but when Don Domeng saw the bike, it was that which the pandesal vendor uses! I had a good laugh when Don Domeng told me that story. He said he eventually disassembled the bike in hopes to make it a little decent and ended up not putting it back together, so much for being cool then. LOL.

Hmmm… apart from these I cannot say much about Tatang, or I just can’t remember. I don’t know much, and it is kind of sad really.

And now I wonder, if it is possible, to actually miss someone you have not really met…

Maybe you can.

I wish I could have seen Tatang, and loved him the way I do now. I think we will both like that. Now that will be cool.