Day 06- Favorite super hero and why

While some people deem my opinion cheesy and sometimes weird, there is no greater superhero than (cue Superman flight theme song):

Papi and Mamita at Sand Valley Beach Resort in Iba, Zambales - 16 May 2009

Growing up, I always knew my DAD was way stronger, way wiser, and way more intelligent than anyone. He was funnier than the dads of my friends and he was good looking, too! Quoting my mom, my dad was every girl's dream of a "tall, dark, and handsome" man to sweep her off her feet. He and my mom had me and my four other sisters, took us out on trips out-of-town every summer, lunches or dinners out every now and then, and sent us to good schools...on his salary alone. He made sure not to give my mom a hard time by letting her work and be a mom at the same time. He thought that my mom being a stay-at-home mom takes more hard work and patience than working  for money. Despite being busy with work as a President/General Manager/Owner of an airfreight/sea freight company, he never made us feel he had less time for the family. He'd take me and my sisters to school every morning and sometimes, he would take and my sisters to work with him. He would even sometimes take my mom, my older sister, and me with him to meet with his clients. My dad was not able to finish to college. He taught himself to speak English by reading books and magazines. He also taught himself how to drive a car by observing jeepney drivers.

He stayed strong through the toughest of times. He was diagnosed with the early stages of cancer in November 2008 and kept it to himself for 2 months. Eventually, my mom found out about it and he asked my mom to keep it a secret from the rest of the family because, quoting him, he didn't want to be a burden. When he was finally diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer in August 2009, physically deteriorating, he was still all of how I described him in this entry:

"...way stronger, way wiser, and way more intelligent than anyone. He was funnier than the dads of my friends and he was good looking, too! Quoting my mom, my dad was every girl's dream of   "tall, dark, and handsome" man to sweep her off her feet."

My very first best friend in life is my MOM. No matter how many times I'd mess up, she's always there. There's always the truth that comes out of her mouth that would certainly hurt me but at the end of the day, it's my ego that's hurt because I'd always find out she's right. "Moms know best" is most certainly an understatement. "Moms always know" is a another statement to add to the first one I mentioned, but will definitely NOT explain the mystery of a mother. My mom has the emotional strength of a million people, and never-ending love, patience, and understanding of more than a dozen armies. She is beloved by a lot of people because she just radiates with charisma. She has a laugh that I look forward to hearing every time I think of something funny to tell her.

During the toughest year of our family's life, she had her share of tears. She was the strongest of us. When her life partner finally joined the Lord, she was completely heartbroken, I could tell, but she was holding it in, receiving me and my sisters with an almost impossible calmness at the hospital room where my dad  passed. Only God (and maybe now, my dad) knows how much emotional burden she is having, but she still manages to take care of and check up on me and my brother, my sisters, my husband, my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and my niece and nephews. My mom will always be the most beautiful woman I know.

My superheroes can't fly and take me with them to see the sights, but they have the strength of all superheroes combined to lift my spirits up. My superheroes don't have the strength to combat with Godzilla, or Lex Luthor, or The Joker, but they have been battling my demons with me all my life and they are continuously successfully doing so. My superheroes don't have famous theme songs playing whenever they change into spandex costumes but my superheroes have done more than their share to make me who I am today, making every song in my life's history a nostalgic beat of my heart.