Shifting perspectives

FOR this very long weekend due to the 2017 Asean Summit, I decided to move out of the house and stay someplace else with my two girls. It was partly because it has been a while since I had a date with them and I really wanted to spend this time with them. I wanted to get myself updated with my daughters, such as what food they like to eat, what kind of games they want to play, what types of words they use, how they sleep, what makes them tick, what ticks them off. In a way, this trip was for me to have a better view of their perspective, which, in turn, should allow me to deepen my relationship with them further.

Prior to the trip, I had this seemingly trivial encounter with one of the security guards stationed at our village’s gate. I got a message from a friend on Wednesday afternoon saying that he had delivered a sealed package (with no value to anyone but me) addressed to me at the guard outpost by the main gate. That particular information skipped my mind for two days.

On the Friday of the same week, I remembered the package as I reached the gate on my way home. I lowered the driver’s seat window and asked, “Chief, may iniwan daw