"My Daughter Loved Jollibee. Then I Found Out Why."

 "My Daughter Loved Jollibee. Then I Found Out Why."

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

When my daughter Aven was three years old, we had a birthday party at Jollibee in West Avenue. During that party, I managed to take a snapshot of Aven hugging Jollibee.

The look on her face was pure love.

Her eyes were closed, and she was hugging him as tightly as she could.

I have often joked that Jollibee was Aven's first love.

I sometimes wondered if that was actually true because every time my daughter hugged me, I felt no less love from her than what I saw in that photograph—a little girl embracing the symbol of Pinoy food excellence with all her heart.

Recently, I shared that old photograph on my Facebook page. The following night, during dinner, I brought it up.

"Love na love mo si Jollibee, ano, anak?"

What our now 20-year-old daughter told us next shook me to the core.

"Daddy, didn't you know I hugged Jollibee like that because he reminded me of you?"

A teardrop was about to fall from my left eye.

I was genuinely touched.

And then, somewhere between the emotion and the realization, the tear decided to retreat.

Wait.

I looked like Jollibee?

Suddenly, an internal debate began.

Should I feel loved?

Or should I feel offended?

I looked at old photographs of myself from when Aven was three years old.

Unfortunately, the resemblance was uncanny.

There I was, staring back at myself, and I had to admit that my daughter had a point.

In the end, though, the sentiment of love won.

Because what she was really telling me was that even as a three-year-old, she associated that feeling of warmth and happiness with me. She saw something familiar in that big red-and-yellow mascot and hugged it the same way she hugged her father.

And honestly, there are worse things a daughter can compare her dad to.

A little part of me was still offended, though.

Just a really, really small part.