"Hello Mr. Tong!"

How does one refer to one's father? For some it's Papa or Dad or Tatay but for me, I naughtily refer to my Papa as Mr. Tong. This is my way of endearing myself and lightening up his mood when I say "Hello Mr. Tong!" with a grin.

Our household will never tire of hearing me greet Pa when he comes in during the morning after his usual morning swim or exercise while I'm comfortably seated at the dining table eating breakfast. During the evenings when Pa arrives from work, there you hear it again. "Hello Mr. Tong!" Pa has always referred to all 3 daughters as Ms. Tong. There's I for one then Marissa and finally Orie. Ma has pretty much imbibed this rather formal term of endearment. Right Mrs. Tong?

I would think that Pa came from an old school of thought having been born during the war. His life experiences were very different (maybe difficult to some extent) from what we as children went through. Pa is strict, disciplined, strong willed and wise. He may have his hilarious hard to die habits but that certainly makes him special.

I remember one conversation with Pa's close friend Uncle Pepito from Canada telling us a long time ago over breakfast about how we will eventually have a common ground as father-daughter as we grow older. True enough, we did. All of Mr. Tong's children are now in the corporate world and leading their own paths. In as much as he would want us to nest in the comforts of our home, he bravely allowed his children to open their wings and fly to where they wanted to head to though initially with hesitation.

In the past 30 years, I, Ms. Tong has had several conversations with Pa and I've always kept these close to my heart.

1. Learn to save and spend only when needed. Being the Chinese that he is, Pa is good with numbers and he sure knows how to fill up his piggy bank, roll his time deposits and make his money work for him.

2. Make sure to clean your plate after eating. I never really understood the value of this exercise not until I went to school. I think it was Pa's way of teaching us good manners. I guess you'd see how one was raised with how they conduct themselves during meals.

3. Always greet the owners of the house. Being the sociable and influencing Tongs that we are, a trip to the neighbor or a friend's or classmate's house is imperative. Never fail to greet Uncle or Auntie to acknowledge their presence. I think this also goes with the say-hello-mantra. I remember one time when the whole family waited patiently inside our van while Pa exchanged His and Hellos with his friend. Walking back towards the van, he opens the back door and instructs us military style to say hello. All 4 children including Mrs. Tong cheerfully wave our hands with probably some of us siblings sticking half our body out the window and said hello in chorus. HELLO!!!

4. Be careful what you say. The world is not as kind to those who speak without tact and diplomacy. Mr. and Mrs. Tong maybe forgiving of what we say but things maybe taken out of context if we were to say things to people outside of the family.

5. Respect your elders. This can best be illustrated when we are at a lauriat. The oldest in the table is served first even though I'm dying of hunger and I want to get my hands on the crackling. Even to this day, I have grown accustomed to this and yes, I still love cracklings.

6. Say thank you. After all the angpao (red envelope) and gifts from relatives and friends when I was younger, it always ends with "What will you say?" A sheepish "Thank you" follows.

No matter how Mr. Tong drives me crazy at times, Mrs. Tong was right to say that life at home would be different without Mr. Tong. That certainly what makes Mr. Tong, a Mr. Tong and the father of the 3 Ms. Tongs and 1 Mr. Tong II. Ooops, and not to forget, Mr. Tong is the better half of Mrs. Tong.

Happy Father's Day Mr. Tong. I love you!