An afternoon snack with Safiya Parks

All I can remember from yesterday’s event was, I got too exhausted that every muscle in my body went limp as I retired to bed. Now, you may think that I ran a marathon or something… no. It was just a normal Sunday where we commenced it with our usual rush to the church, sweating and stressing. Ken was surprisingly the earliest among the three of us to get all ready, complete with his school’s mass card and fan on hand. He smelled really good, obviously spraying more than the normal amount of his cologne. Ralph was giving me the knowing look. It was one of his Ken-Is-Excited-To-See-Sofiya look.

I just rolled my eyes and gave my husband an annoying look. Yeah, it has been cute and somewhat exciting to talk about and deal with my son’s presently blooming young love, but I honestly am not all hundred percent so into it. Don’t get me wrong, Sofiya Parks, Ken’s so-called girlfriend, is a cute and charming little Korean girl, but I always tell Ralph to listen to himself! Ken is only seven while Sofiya is six! When I was seven, all I cared for was the cash register miniature machine that my bestfriend, Kristine Crudo got from her parents! I was too envious that I think I gave my parents a whole week of a hard time just begging them to get me one as well!

I think Ralph’s active involvement with Ken’s silly romance just goes to show the culture that he was raised by. That explains why most teens in the US start kissing as as early as 12! When I explain to him that kids in the Philippines are different, he just won’t listen to me.

“Kids are the same wherever you are!” he had insisted. “You’re just going to have to be there to guide them but they will always be curious.”

Curious, yes I understand. But to actually talk to Ken about relationship already is really freaking me out! I’m telling you, you have got to listen to my husband whenever he talks to Ken about Sofiya. You would think Ken is just  two years his junior.

Anyway, when we got to church, Ralph led us to a seat near Sofiya. I wasn’t actually surprised. Ken, however, spent more time playing cards with his boy classmate than even sneak small glances at his supposedly girlfriend. Ralph said he’s never going to sit right next to a boy classmate again. Do you sense how cupidly Ralph is acting here? He was just upset because Sofiya later decided to move to the seat behind us. Good girl! (hehehe)

After church though, I wasn’t aware that I was standing right next to Sofiya’s grandmother, so I took that opportunity to ask her if we can invite Sofiya over at the house for a snack. She agreed provided she’d be chaperoned by her sister. I said it was ok.

Ralph was surprised that I did what I did. I just said that I’m tired of all the Sofiya talks and that this snack should be the culmination of it. Ralph was going to protest but I just raised my arm as if saying: I’m not going to hear it!

So we went to Lopues after dropping Ken off at home. We grocery shopped for the snacks and asked Rena (Rey’s wife) to do the cooking. Sofiya arrived around 3:30pm where she was welcomed by Ken, Brandy and Adi (all cousins) along with Rey and Rena. Ralph and I went out a lil later to take photos.

While eating, we noticed that this girl has awesome table manners! She gently wipes the side of her mouth once in a while. She sits up straight as if she has a back brace on her and she sips her coke in an exquisitely fine manner. And we realized that she’s not a coke drinker. When she was sipping, perhaps she was only doing it to show she was drinking. Had I known, I could have just offered her ice tea!

After their snacks, Ken and cousins invited Sofiya to play inside Ken’s room. The kids were naturally boisterous and I just had to put up with it since we had a visitor. Later though, Sofiya told me she was leaving. She was with Joseph, her uncle and their (Sofiya and Ken’s) driver to school everyday.

After Sofiya left, I uploaded the photos at facebook and with Ralph’s instructions, we changed his status from being ‘single’ to ‘in a relationship’.  Yeah, reading what I just typed makes me roll my eyes. God! I wanted to put ‘it’s complicated’ given that Sofiya has not actually admitted to being Ken’s official girlfriend. So it’s a matter of Ken knowing that he has a girlfriend while the girlfriend still has no clue she has a boyfriend!

Goodness! I leave this all to Ralph’s hands. May God bless this ‘relationship’.