if only

This morning. I was sad. I felt so stupid. I found myself standing in a middle of four gentlemen (Mechanical Engineers). I was pretty sure they were speaking English but it seemed Chinese and five other lanaguages combined to my ears. I wanted to scream. Every word uttered from their mouths don't mean a thing. For me, it has always been word equals image. You give me a word and my mind will create an image.However, at that very moment, my imgainations went blank. It was like a mental pause.
Let me explain. GEAR MOTOR- that one I understand and definitely konw what for but to understand how it works? Wow! it blew my mind!
So I decided to escape. While they were all talking... my mind went back to my childhood years. I was introduced to biking at an early age of two. Our neighbor in my beloved San Juan Village, Bangkal, Davao City, owned a bike shop. I have vivid memories of fun biking with cousins and friends while I was growing up. We had to sacrifice and save our "piso" to own a bike for an hour. In most cases though, Nong Ike (the shop owner) would sense that our piso first went to ice pop vendor in one corner, so he would just smile and wink at us. That signals a permision that we can borrow his bike for as long as we don't go far from the shop. (reason: if in case one would want to rent the bike we just borrowed, then we will have no choice but to wholeheartedly surrender it)
  Every Christmas season, my brother, my cousins and other boy neighbors would set up a "kanyon" out of bamboo from "daplin sa sapa".  then they would prepare gasoline and light a hole on the mid-top part. BANG! That was a very clever way to save from buying expensive firecrackers.
Then, my memory forwarded fast to my brief experience as the part-time receptionist of our junk/surplus shop in Jacinto before. I was about eighteen years old when I first faced engines and motors, under chassis and other vehicle parts imported from Japan. All those junks didn't mean a thing until I knew how much each cost.
Unfortunately, I was not able to learn how each amazingly works in a vehicle.
Just as how unfortunate it was that my early exposure to bicycles and "kanyon" from childhood didn't snatch my interest in a world of "machines". If only somebody from childhood made me interested. I could have been a Mechanical Engineer now. I could have been like my Uncle Paul (Coca Cola), my Kuya Winston (Holcim) and these four gentlemen I enivetably work with five days a week.
Too late but I am silently screaming..."I WANT TO BE A MECHANICAL ENGINEER!". GRRRRRRRRRR
Well, had I been an engineering stude in Ateneo, I would not have met the same old wonderful individuals (my former classmates), experienced the same fun and learnings I had, that made me the me that I am today.
I guess, it's pretty obvious that it's too late now.
On a second thought... maybe too late for me but still too early for my 2-year old boy. Yehey! At age two, he's now riding a motorbike with his papa kim driving (of course). We'll see. I still have 13 years to wait, to actually find out his interests.
at 11:55AM today, still morning, after having all this in my mind... I am no longer sad but excited and happy looking forward to that 13 years after. And who knows what more exciting experiences Kongkong will have... to make him be interested. hehe!