My penchant for infinity jewelry came by accident. My dad had given me his gold bracelet as a gift, an heirloom piece of sorts. Unknown to me, this was an infinity jewelry and it was pointed out by my girlfriend as she looked at it. She told me that this design was a symbol of the strength of our bond as father and son. The infinity jewelry that I wore symbolized a bond that had no bounds and would never break. I am not sure if my dad ever meant to give me the bracelet because it symbolized our bond. Maybe it was just because it was something he felt like giving me. Maybe it was because he loved me as well. Whatever the reasons may be, I never did ask dad why he gave me the bracelet. It is a father and son thing I guess not to ask some mushy question like that. But we understood each other and up to this day, I still wear it. I did make a copy of that infinity jewelry and gave it to him as well. Nope, I am mistaken; I gave him his bracelet back and made a copy for myself.

My relationship with my Dad is the typical relationship of a man born before World War II with his son: informal but not that demonstrative. I guess it was the type of relationship that was implied. We knew how we felt for each other but never really said it out loud. That is, till the day he got sick.

Dad had just retired as a Justice for the Appellate Court and when a justice retires, there is a special ceremony given to him in his honor. The Court meets en banc and the presiding justice gives way for the retiring justice to formally open the session. Selected members from his peers, his staff, his friends, and family are given time to speak about him and the final ceremonial rite is that an oil painted portrait of him is shown for the first time which will be hosted in the walls of the building. It was a great retirement ceremony as the tradition of a judicial retirement is filled with so many regal moments. One that comes to mind most especially is the introduction of his guests: one of them being a former first lady.

After his retirement, my parents went traveling with my older brother and his family. It was during this time that my mom noticed that my father was a bit forgetful, perhaps even calmer than usual. She taught nothing of it. It was when my parents visited my place that I saw how off coordinated my father was. We quickly brought him back home for a series of tests where we discovered he had a rare form of brain cancer. Treatable since we found out about it early on, my father did 18 months of chemotherapy which made him weak but did not ravage his body too much. In fact, after getting a clean bill of health, my dad proceeded to attend most of the social circles that retired justices had. This is when he had his stroke and was in ICU. At this point, I gave him back his infinity bracelet and prayed for him to get well. And he did. I now wear a copy of his bracelet and so does my brother.