MY BIRTHDAY falls on September 13. However, to tell you the truth, I am not really sure if that’s the correct date when my mom gave birth to me. This posed a problem when I was enrolled in the town’s primary school. I was too small and I was only six years of age and the requirement that all enrollees in grade one must be seven years old. In short, my sister Zenaida was told to get my birth certificate. None was available at that time because the municipal building was razed to the ground during the war and all the documents of local civil registrations were reduced to ashes.
My father decided to secure the affidavits of the three older Porac residents that indeed they had personal knowledge and that they were witnesses of my birth. Maybe, that was possible because a comadrona with the help of some neighbors were there when I first saw light. To complete my documentation, my mother who can only remember that I was baptized sometime three months ago went to the town’s parish church and sought my baptismal record. The record showed I was baptized December 13. So it was decided ergo that I was born September 13. So be it. It was customary in those years that newly born were getting the sacrament three months after they were born. But what is a birth certificate anyway? A certificate that I was born, like in a marriage certificate that you’re married? I am here alive so blessed crossing several milestones.
The biblical age is seventy. According to some doctors if you are a strong seventy you will reach eighty. And each year added to eighty is a bonus. Look at US President Joe Biden, Imelda Marcos, Juan Ponce Enrile, Joseph Estrada, and our very own President Rodrigo Duterte. These people supposedly are past their prime, yet are still very active. It must be true to many people now with advanced calendar age that “life begins at forty.” And that the sixties are the new forties. Age is only a number really. I can speak for myself that being in the seventies, I can claim I am still active in many things. I can still perform. I can still write with passion. I conduct a TV show, I vlog, I package business deals, etc.
A sociologist will tell you that most men, even in their prime, enjoyed drinking and having chicks on the side. This statement will meet thousands of objections from housewives. But somehow, as one grows older, the doctors will advise you to stop drinking. Your fatty liver is already a cause for concern. You either lose your appetite to women or your ' Chuck Norris' can no longer drill or can do the roundhouse, even with the help of a blue pill. You remember that joke about that famous general/ambassador who when asked if he can still keep it up with his American wife, he reportedly said 'I still do it twice'... Someone made a retort, “isa sa tag-araw, isa sa tag-ulan” (One in summer and one during rainy season).