Interesting information

My brother and mom got back to Vancouver yesterday, after a month-long stay in Manila. We met up for dinner and they shared these findings with me.

In the Philippines, there is an organization called National Statistical Office (NSO) and they oversee and manage information such as births, deaths, marriages, etc. My mom and brother went there to obtain a copy of my parents’ marriage certificate, since the original one was in Vancouver. The NSO person helping them pulled up information about my parents, and this is when my mom and brother found out that my dad had a second name (it is Sancho) and that his birthday was on a different day than the one we’ve been celebrating our whole lives! I can understand my dad dropping his second name; lots of people do this. And who could blame him, with a name like Sancho? But to celebrate his birthday on June 5 instead of June 9, which was the date stated on his birth certificate, is really bizarre! Maybe my grandmother got the dates mixed up? Maybe my dad just liked 5 much better than 9? I’ll never know the reason.

It was a really strange experience for my mom, after being married to my dad for over 50 years, finding out this information about him. But true to form, she thought it was funny and had a good laugh about it.

The other bit of interesting information was the date recognized by the government for my parents’ wedding was the date they had a civil ceremony, which was two weeks prior to their church wedding. My mom didn’t even remember the date of the civil ceremony. My parents always celebrated their anniversary on the date they had the wedding at the church.