BROKEN PIECES

"Daddy, please find a reason to stay with my mama. We both love you, Daddy, please don't leave. And if you can't find a reason, Daddy, I wouldn't mind if you found that reason to be me."

My whole body shatters every time I hear this echoing tune over the radio. I remember when our family was broken in pieces. We, their children, were broken into pieces when this devastating moment of our life happened.


It was at the mid of May when this hurtful episode of our life occurred. Mommy could hardly speak asking "Why does it have to end this way?" She even said, "I have done everything to mend the gaps we had. But, don't you understand?"

Past events flooded my mind. Mom and dad were arguing about financial issue. "We cannot send our two kids in college and high school if we won't tighten our belts in spending," Mom said. Dad stood and shouted furiously, "I shouldn't be blamed of our fluctuating budget since I don't manage the spending!" There wasn't a day that they were squabbling about money, money, money! I even cupped my ears in order not to hear this old rippling tale.


Dad did not finish college, so he could not land a white-collared job like my mom. My mom worked as a municipal accountant while my dad as a messenger of a rural bank in a nearby town. Perhaps, with this situation they had, he felt so insecure because mom got higher pay than my dad.


Money was not the biggest issue they fought. It deafened me and felt numbed when I heard mom shouting in their locked room, "Who is Maribel in your life?" Young as I am but I know that with that echo I heard, she meant dad has another woman. I was desperate. My heart was rumbling and would like to scream "Why does our family life have to close its story?" Dad could not answer back. Instead, he packed his things up and left our house, once our home. He loved more his woman than us, his own family. This saddened my heart.


There's no day that my mom could be seen relieved from the heavy load she's carrying.  She still loved our father despite the nightmares that happened. I, for one, still long for his presence. A father will always be a father. I am still waiting for that fateful moment for Daddy to come home, so these broken pieces will be mended and patched up, so we could live a peaceful and happy life just like other children do.


I heard the song again. It reminded me of that chapter of our life when misery and pain dwelt in our hearts. Everyone was crying in pain! "Daddy, please come home... I miss you dad. Life is so hard when our family is incomplete," my youngest sibling cried, gasping and I could not breathe, too, till I got up on bed and rushed into their room... only to find out that this was only a nightmare. I could not believe on what I had seen, they kept embracing each other tightly as they were still in a deep slumber. "Thank, God," I said. "It was only a nightmare," I deeply sighed.


"Whew, we aren't broken pieces," I mumbled. I went back to my room and felt relieved.


(Image from the Internet)