I told Agee when I was teaching her to drive
that when I could take a nap while she’s
driving, that’s the sign that she is a good
driver, and so yesterday we started
to celebrate her birthday with a jog
around the Church of the Gesù in Ateneo
in Loyola, I had to wake up at 3 in the
morning to be able to make it to UP Diliman
as the sun rose, but it was entrance exams
day and the campus was jammed with cars,
impossible to run in, and so we had to
try Ateneo and we had fun, Ateneo being
what it is, closest to heaven on earth that’s
what it is, especially in the approaches to
the church, we were oxygenated with the
trees and grass and brick pathways and
almost no traffic, and after we were done
with breakfast at the restaurant with the
inverted car on Katipunan, as I was driving
home I felt the bite of sleep and I told her
I would have to stop at a service station
to take a nap, but she said she had her
license and she could drive us home,
and she did, I took a nap while she was
driving, had a really good time sleeping
while she was at the wheel, and so that’s
it, she’s a good driver, having brought us
all home in Dawn’s Vios, and that’s how
she is, full of confidence in everything she
does, a bit too passionate at times, but she’s
okay, she’s a good driver, I can sleep while
she drives, Baby and I can address other
issues while she’s around, knowing that
she’s in charge, oh what a lady she is, always
beaming with bright prospects for the day,
one day it’s a simple pic in Instagram, the
next a painting, then something she said
to the president of her company, “in straight
English, Dad,” she hastens to add, or a dive
in the pool, biking like a pro, running as if
from a jailbreak, yes, that’s her, any father
would love to have her at his side when he’s
sleepy at the wheel, or if he has other issues
to address, with this young lady, beautiful
in core, eyes prying into your own, always
showing you what’s good in life, I could somehow
see a katana in her, sharp and swift to the target,
where she came from Baby and I know, from
a couple who wanted nothing more than daughters
who could, who would and who should, Agee
our second-born, swift, sane, secure, loving life,
loving God with eyes closed, my co-worshipper,
co-athlete, co-driver, co-poet, co-insane,
Agee of the Villanuevas in times such as these.

Happy birthday, anak!