Heart Rallies

SEFF WALTER YU

I am Seff Walter Yu.

I was once a son, a brother, a fake boyfriend, a heartbroken, a real boyfriend, a fiancé. And for the past happy years, I have been a father, a husband, and a friend.

After marrying Bea, it was something new and exciting for me. Though we have been living together for quite some time, it still felt wonderful knowing that when I wake up, the woman beside me is my bride lent to me by God. It felt good knowing that you just have someone to spend the next days of your life with, someone you love more than yourself.

She gave me three wonderful, boastful, and loving kids. Boastful because I felt that they were so proud to have me and Bea as their parents. We joined a lot of family days at work and at school, as a clan and despite Mom and Dad's passing, we continued the tradition of Sundates, as what Bent called it.

Leb, I am proud of what he had become. An architect, a topnotcher when he took the board exam, is my eldest. He is not expressive but he demonstrates it a lot of times thru his actions. When he was young, he would always hug and kiss me and Bea before and after school. Whenever it is our anniversary, he buys flowers out of his allowance to give it to us. He makes greeting cards for us and posts it on our fridge. He is the eldest and he took charge in looking after his sister and brother. He knew Bent is behaved so his focus was more on Teah. He gave me my first grandchild and I didn't have an idea that that was how it felt to have a grandchild. I do not know if I should say I spoiled him because everyone's pretty much spoiled.

Teah, my flight stewardess is my beautiful princess. I treated her the way Ethan treated his Colbie. At a young age, I saw how energetic and perky she was and it wasn't surprising to know that she would become a cheerleader. That made me have her go to the same school as Leb. The father side of me felt scared to give away her girl. She always says she is a daddy's girl. Yes, she is. I love my daughter. She is my younger Bea. Though most of the time on air, she never failed to call me and her mother to tell us where she is and how she is.

And my youngest, Addien Bent. I know I said I do not have any favorite but Bent holds a really special place in my heart. Maybe because he is my youngest or maybe because he loves my mother a lot, or maybe because he's someone who Bea and I really prayed for. I remember promising God that we will make sure we will give a wonderful life to him and make Him the center of his life. We were blessed. Thus the name Bent.

Cali. My first born. I love Cali more than words can say and everyone knew the special bond that I have with him. It is something different from the connection that I have with my kids, the connection that I have with my other nephews or niece. Bea knew that. When he first had a girlfriend, he called me about it and even if I was on a meeting that time, I immediately left and talked to Bea. I called Ethan and Raffy and we all talked to the girl. It was hard. He became a doctor, became an oncologist, not knowing that he would be using it to someone really close to his heart.

Until the inevitable time came that Mom passed and Cali looked after her. I do not know where he got the strength to be her doctor when Mom simply wanted us to let her go so she can be with Dad. He didn't let go at first until he found enough courage to tell us that Mom was simply living because of the machines attached to her. Should it be taken out, she's gone.

He made his family and married a doctor from the same hospital where he is working. Until now, Cali makes it a point to see me and Bea regularly.

And my wife? No, she never became good when it comes to cooking. Mom eventually needed to give us one of our helpers to become our cook. Sooner or later, we might die because of hunger or too much salt from fastfood deliveries.

We still argue. In the first place, that is the main way we show our love to each other. But we would always make up the same day. We argued about a lot of things but never did it in front of our children. We celebrate our anniversaries yearly and since it is a rainy month, we usually end up celebrating it around August, assuming that there's no storm or what. There was even one time, crazy as it seems, that we celebrated it November. I was away for a month for work and we have been too busy when I came back. But yes, there was never a year that we did not celebrate it.