Missing Daddy

Daddy died at the age of 75 on May 24. He was diagnosed with diabetes when I was in college, over two decades ago. For the last five years he has been an amputee with below the knee amputation (BKA) on his right leg after his big toe contracted a wound infection. Two weeks’ worth of hospitalization and medication in Masbate and Manila was not able to revive his toes thus his doctors had no choice but to perform the operation.

He accepted the fact that he was one leg less but his life was never the same again. He used to be active even after his retirement. Being an athlete when he was younger, a hard-worker, he breezed through the hardships of life. He trained athletes in volleyball, chess and boxing when he was a teacher in MNCHS. He had a bicycle which he used daily for his routine of going to the market, doing errands, etc. Our eldest daughter was able to enjoy a few years with him in his strength.
After the amputation he chose to be confined in the home. Walking again with an artificial leg was never an option for him. He did not even like or tried the idea of using crutches to help him become mobile. He was comfortable in his walker and for those five years, he stayed and slept in a sofa bed in our living room in our house in Masbate.

When we came home from his interment and burial last Wednesday, our living room looked so big and weird. We miss the sofa bed that was his comfy haven as well as his ready smile to greet us always when we open the door. His area was also where his coffin was placed during the eight days of wake.

For the past days after burying him, this corner in the living room is now our conversation area. Where we reminisce and talk about his last days, and anything we think of. We miss Dad.