A boy, a kite and his papa

One of my fondest memories of my Papa was one summer day we went out to a nearby hill and be surrounded by nature. Pops as well call him was a Forestry and Natural Resources graduate of UP Los Banos. All his life he loved nature and in turn worked for several different firms that flew him to Malaysia, Indonesia and other Asian countries. He loved the fieldwork and although he was originally as fair as I am he eventually turned dark skinned and I remember asking him why his skin was the color of a tree bark like the things he usually worked on. Good thing my Pops had a healthy sense of humor or else he would have boxed my ears. Just look at that grin.

So going back to the kite. We hand built that kite out of newspapers and pieces of sticks. He told me that it needs to have a long tail and an even longer spool of string. I remember that he was teaching me how to fly a kite at that time. I remember he was giving me pointers on how to fly it. "Give it some slack son", "Make sure you have enough string to let it fly but keep a firm hand so that it will not fly way." "Don't be afraid for it to crash" These words seem to apply more to flying a kid and looking back this was his way of imparting his life wisdom to me.

Credits to Happeningstock of deviantart.com
https://happeningstock.deviantart.com/art/Man-and-Son-Fly-Kite-on-Hill-111084555

"Run like the wind son!" he shouted as he released the kite and I ran as fast as my 8 year old legs could run. At first it was just trailing low but as I picked up speed it flew higher and higher. I saw my Pops crack a grin and it felt wonderful seeing him proud.

Then the kite plummeted down and it crashed. I was stunned because I was doing what he told me to do but it still fell. He saw that tears were welling up because I felt like failure. As always he cracked his Cheshire cat like grin and said "Everything will be all right son, all it needs is some care, attention and lots of tape." He worked on the kite and behold it was not brand new and you can see the damage done and the repairs but it was going to fly.

I believed that it was going to fly because Pops said so. In a way that kite is me, damaged but can be repaired and helped to get better. The kite flew upwards and onward and I too must get up and move forward.

Incidentally it is my Pops birthday month. It is nearing his birthday and this might be his way saying even if I have fallen down now. I can still get up. All I need is some care, attention and lots of love. I am damaged but will continue on.

Thanks Pops for looking after me in Heaven.