"5 minutes"

 "5 minutes"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

Every time my family and I would go on a trip I think about my Dad. So picture this, as a Ship Captain he is always conscious of time. Growing up we would all try to be in the car by his appointed time. If he said 7am, we were all there by 6:50am. Mom would be at the front , Aj and me would be at the back of our Classic Blue Volkswagon. We would all wait for him. Excited. All ready to go.

The funny thing is my Dad would always have an upset stomach just before we leave. He would first poke his head in the car. "Oh andito na ba lahat?". We would all respond with a yes. And then he would say , "Sandali lang. 5 minutes." Holding on to his stomach. We would all groan collectively as that meant that we would be waiting for at least 10 minutes and our effort to be in the car early was all for nothing hahahah.

"5 minutes lang ha." That line would stick with us forever. We got so used to it that we would factor that in our preparations all the time. May oras pa. Wala pa si Daddy. 

And now that I have my own family , I would still be early to the car and in those moments that I would wait for my Wife and Aven to join me , I would still think of my dad poking his head into the car and saying those words like it was yesterday. "5 minutes lang anak."

I would smile and it made the wait much easier.