family matters

My brother Rob has lived in the States for over ten years, which means that Sage had never met him until our trip to the States last October.

We stayed at my mother's house; and when Rob drove down to visit us on our first weekend there, Grandma tried to prepare Sage for meeting her then-unknown uncle by explaining how he was related to people Sagey already knew.

"Uncle Rob is your mommy's brother," she tried first. "Mommy is Uncle Rob's sister."

"Mommy is not a sister," Sage said with stubborn conviction. "Mommy is a mommy."

After further attempts at elucidation, Sage was willing to concede that Mommy is a mother, and Grandma is Mommy's mother, but it was still inconceivable to her that Mommy could be anyone's sister while also being a mother and a daughter at the same time.

"Okay," my mom tried changing tack, "think of it this way: Uncle Rob is Uncle Richard's brother. You know Uncle Richard, right? He visits you all the time in Manila, and he's Mommy's brother, too."

Sage looked at her maternal grandmother in amazement. "You know my Uncle Richard!?"

artistic temperament

This afternoon, Sage, our helper Lhen, and I were all in Dean's and my bedroom. Sage was playing, and Lhen and I were busy doing our respective work, just keeping an ear out in case Sagey needed anything. So it wasn't until too late that I turned around and saw that she had covered almost an entire wall of the bedroom with multicolored pencil scribbles.

"Sage," I cried out, aghast, "look what you've done! You know you're not supposed to write on the walls."

"But I want to write on the walls," she said, frowning and clearly spoiling for a fight.

"No," I said sternly. "You know it makes our home look messy, and Ate Lhen will have a hard time cleaning it up."

Lhen, trying to help, chimed in, "Your daddy will get mad, Sage."

At this, to my great surprise, Sage's face just... crumpled. "Daddy will be mad at me!" she sobbed, tears trickling down her face.

I quickly took her in my arms and soothed her as well as I could--while still trying to convey that graffiti is a no-no. "No, honey, Daddy won't be mad at you," I told her, "He'll just be sad that our wall is messy, but he'll know you didn't mean to do anything bad."

After a while, she wiped away her own tears and quietly extricated herself from my arms. "Mommy, I want my toothbrush," she said.

I gave her her toothbrush, and she went and filled the small bucket in the bathroom with water, lugging it with effort towards the offending wall. Then she set the bucket down, dipped her toothbrush in the water, and started scrubbing away at the colorful scribbling. "Daddy will be proud of me," she murmured, with quiet certainty.

It was time to get her a new toothbrush, anyway.

don't forget

This morning, in my rush to get to the office, I whizzed past Sage who was eating her breakfast.

"Sorry, sweetie," I said, giving her a kiss. "Daddy's running late but I will see you later, right? I love you." I strode quickly to the door, adjusting my laptop back on my right shoulder.

"Dad," shouted Sage. "Wait!"

"What?" I asked, halfway out of the door.

"You forgot to say goodbye, Dad," Sage said, extending her arms towards me.

In that moment, I felt like someone in a Reader's Digest vignette and simply melted. I ran back to the daughter I love with the fury of a endless burning star and said goodbye.

(Sheesh, I actually made a mistake and posted this initially as an update in Salamanca)

Sage's First Flash Fiction

created entirely by Sage Alfar

"Once upon a time, there was a Daddy Fish, a Mommy Fish, and a Baby Fish. And the Mommy Fish loved the Baby Fish, and the Daddy Fish loved the Baby Fish. And the Baby Fish loved the Daddy Fish, and the Baby Fish loved the Mommy Fish. The End."

update

Sorry for the lack of updates, preparations for the US trip, the trip itself, and the everyday demands of life have made time a bit scarce - but we will be updating soon.

Sage is too wonderful to leave mute.