"I feel so old!"

That's what Doc Michael said when he got the letter of invitation from the Silliman University Medical Center Post-Graduate Interns. The SUMC PGIs have invited Doc Mike to be their inspirational speaker during their graduation at the end of the month, afterwhich they will be taking the board exam in August.

I said: Hush, Michael. Don't say that, as you are younger than me.

Doc Mike: But I've only started practice a few years... and I'm not that old, am I?

Me: (eyebrows up) I don't think it's about age.

Doc Mike: ...and I can't back out as they've given me a month to prepare... and school is out so I don't have tutorials and homeworks to check...

Me: Oh, Michael, don't you see? The interns have seen something in you that has inspired them that's why they want you to be their graduation speaker!

Doc Mike: Me? Inspiring?


Indeed, Doc Michael or RMTO, as his name appears on the Operating Room Schedule Board and on the patients' charts, is an extraordinarily inspiring person. Most doctors like to talk about hobbies, sports, toys/gadgets, politics, showbiz, gossip, green jokes and other whatnots, aside from medical things, of course. But with RMTO, there is one and only one topic that he always wants to talk about: his children. Any day, anywhere, he never runs out of anecdotes about his kids. He avoids controversies and intrigues with his big smile and signature byline: "I don't want to be instantly famous. I just want to be a good dad and husband."

And I think he is doing an amazing and admirable job of balancing his professional and his personal life. His clinic hours and surgery hours, unless in cases of emergencies, have to fit around his schedule of driving kids to school, picking up groceries, running to Cang's or Lee Plaza to buy soccer socks, modeling clay or the myriad other things that school children tell their parents "they need to be bring to school tomorrow" and it is already 8 in the evening. And now that it is summer, he drives to soccer, swimming, Kumon and soon to ballet, too.

Often he is an "Inatay", an Ina and a Tatay at the same time, as his wife works out of the country for several months in a year. Though Grace is far away, technology keeps them connected with daily convos. Mike has this to say about their set-up: "It's not perfect. In fact, it's hard and not ideal. We are just doing the best we can to make it work. " And how do they do this? He says, "We just love them the best we can, give to them, serve them, todo, without thinking of what we can get in return."

Hmmm. Where did you learn to be so wise, Michael? As for the children, we don't really know how they will turn out when they grow up. But I find this very telling: ask any of their kids now who their best friends are and they will readily say, "Mommy and Daddy!"

And here they are, Mike, Grace and their lovely kids.