I'm going home at 3am, and since jeepneys are hard to find at that time, I had to catch a taxi. And if you wander around downtown every day, you'll meet a lot of different taxi drivers. Some of them are smug, loud, and jazzed, but this driver I'm riding with is not like that. When we first started talking, I told him how dangerous it is to drive when you're tired. He agreed and started talking to me. From there, he told me how he's trying so hard not to sleep. The story changed when he talked about his kids and what it's been like for him to drive everywhere for so many years just to make ends meet and get his kids to school. He explained how his wife would ask for money to pay the electric bill, the rent, the water bill, and the kids' school fees. Even surprise is that he has seven children.
Fast forward a few years, and four of them have already graduated and are now working well-paying jobs. One works in human resources for a large BPO company, the other is a teacher, and the fourth one who graduated in 2016 but just got his break this time by passing the board (after three attempts). I've noticed that he always talks about how smart his kids are.
The energy we shared was so great that I don't want to talk to anyone else again and would rather just listen to him all day. He said that since it's the weekend, everyone will get together at his house, which was a gift from his children. He's very appreciative.
As the story progresses, he mentioned that he would let other people pass on the road and not let a small argument stop him from making money that day. He does this because he knows how fragile life is and because he's the only one in his family who makes money, so if something bad happened to him, his family would lose everything.
But look at how things have changed. I'm really glad for him. During this ride, I couldn't be happier. I really enjoyed listening to him, and I kept getting goosebumps because hearing him makes me want to say "thank you" to life.
He still makes money by driving around the city, which he enjoys, and he has three more kids who are about to go to college. He also said that he has been driving for 28 years.
Then we got to our destination. I got my daily dose of serotonin just from listening to this wonderful person. I was so glad I didn't get any of my fare changes. I also forgot his name, but that makes the stories he told even more important to me because I now know which feeling to remember whenever I become a father one day.
Comments