he heals

roque was feeling sick over the weekend. during easter lunch, we observed that he was not his usual excitable self, just lying on the couch, mostly leaning on me or gary. and he felt warm, as in feverish. true enough, 38.8 degrees when i checked, but without any cough or colds. nowadays, everyone gets paranoid about any febrile episode being a sign of the dreaded dengue, including us. but ok, being doctors, we will be calm. we will observe and not freak out. paracetamol, ibuprufen, and we will just monitor.

three days, and still with fever on and off and still hitting almost 39 degrees, and complaining of headache too. he shakes his head and says, "my brain hurts." at least he was not lethargic anymore but still could not play in the park. frustrated, he asked gary, "when will my fever go away?" to which gary answered, "tomorrow." although i was not really sure if he was as confident as how his answer was. every night we would pray for god to take out his fever and heal him completely. that night, i was quite worried too and i made him repeat the words out loud, "dear god, please take out my fever and heal me completely. dear jesus, please take out my fever and heal me completely." and as always, he ends with "good night god, good night jesus, good night mama mary, good night holy spirit." and as we lay there, i thought, one more day like this and i'm calling the real doctor, his pediatrician.

the following day, roque woke up without fever. and the day went on, thankfully, still without fever. what a relief! he was well, as daddy gary said he would be by that day. "so no more medicine?" he asked me. "no more," i said, "because you don't have fever anymore. does your brain still hurt?" he shakes his head testing if it still will hurt. "no more."

"see, dad was right," i said. and then i asked him, "who do you think made you well?" with an impish grin, he looked at me, and whispered, "god?" as if it was our own little secret, but with a hint of uncertainty. "or is it jesus?" he asked. i said, "both of them... and mama mary helped, too."

i knew then that he believed me, and that he was sure his answer was right.

first time

the first time is always memorable. thanks much to the placinos. first visita iglesia with our children. first visita iglesia out of town, through parts of rizal and laguna provinces. first way of the cross with our children, two stations per iglesia. first time each iglesia was dedicated to specific prayers... tanay for self, pililia for parents, candelaria for country, siniloan for work and study, paete for siblings, morong for friends, cardona for helpers. first time i had taho. first time our children witnessed hampas. first time we had to pay different fees depending on what you did in the restroom. yes, the first time is always memorable. looking forward to the next first time.