The Agony and the Award

It seemed like his thesis was taking forever to finish. What should have been finished in one term stretched to two. I thought by the second term we could breathe easy and he will be graduating. But by thesis defense time he needed two more weeks to finish. Just two weeks! And he has to enroll for a third term! I can feel the sympathetic, collective chill of all parents out there with the words “additional tuition”.

It wasn’t because my younger son was bumming around that’s why he couldn’t finish on time. The fact was he had spent many sleepless nights in those two terms and two weeks trying to perfect his thesis. His sleeping habits have been so altered I’d tease him he can now work in a call center – work at night, sleep in the day. He had also been experiencing pain in his hand and his back due to non-stop work on the computer.

Towards the end of the second term, I did what no parent should do. In my frustration, I asked him, “Can’t you just submit a not so perfect work so that you can finish this term?” He glared at me. Sometime during his growing up years I must have somehow – unknown to me – taught him the value of hard work and excellence. Or it must be his father’s genes. Or maybe it was because I was constantly pestering my dear departed husband with this line, “Since you’re just floating around up there doing nothing, go ask Jesus to look after your sons.”

I rarely miss going to the Feast ever since we started in Alabang. Not only do I have various duties to perform, I also get my weekly spiritual nourishment there. I’d miss it only to attend once in a lifetime events or very important unavoidable ones. Last Sunday, I just had to miss it for a momentous occasion – my son’s awarding ceremony. His thesis won the bronze for Animation in the 12th TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) Digicon 6 Philippine regionals. And his work is now qualified to join the regional awards in Tokyo. He also holds the distinction of being the only student among the top three winners.

Watching him accept his award, I thanked the Lord for this great blessing. I also thanked Him that my son had the good sense not to turn in a below standard thesis just to beat the deadline.