Today, June 7, 2004 at 12:30 AM, my daughter Erica, 25, for whom I wrote the song Batang-bata Ka Pa when she was born, delivered Ananda Aleisha into this world thus making me and Lydia grandparents!! Ha ha ha! Hee Hee Hee! Whooooooo!! Yipeee!!!! Heeeeeeeyaaaaaaaw! Doo doo doo, a-dah dah dah! Forgive my limited command of the English language right now but the right, smart lines to express this momentous occasion in our lives truly escape me as In write. I can’t tell you what a mind-blowing, earth shaking, paradigm shifting thing it is to have an apo. I AM A LOLO!!!! Listen, world! I wanna make sure you got that!
Lola Lydia and Ananda. Behind them is dad Tristan and a visitor!
When I talked to my wife awhile ago (she in Manila and I in Miami, I addressed her as Lola. It was the strangest yet the most wondrous thing to say! I actually felt the passing or crossing into a new era in our life together. The journey of our family, with Erica, Ala and Mio, and now Ananda continuous and now opens up into new passageways of adventures and yet-to-be-traveled paths of sharing and intimacy. Life’s mysteries and miracles continue to show up everywhere. God is still tinkering with our lives. And that’s just great–too great to put into words.
Ananda, 7 pounds and 11 ounces, and by accounts of her mother Erica and her father Tristan is long, hairy and extremely cute. She seems to have taken after her Lola Lydia. And yes, she can scream her head off! Forgive me if I seem doting but I really can’t help it. I’ve been laughing and crying silly all day today. I promise to forgive you too, when your turn comes.
Martin Luther King once said that a baby born is God’s way of saying that LIFE must go on! What a mysteriously eloquent, wonderful, loving God it is that decides to send us messages through such incoherent beings who cannot yet talk but know how to elicit unconditional love from us.
You can cry all you want, Ananda, and complain when you’re hungry, and keep everyone awake and make all these demands that babies make. As far as this Lolo is concerned, you are his little angel! Tonight, APO sang Batang-bata Ka Pa and I mentioned to our Miami crowd that you, Ananda were born today to wild applause.
Welcome to this world. I promise to make it better for you!
Pictures to follow soon, dear reader!