The Circle of Life in a Jeepney

I couldn’t help but feel happy for the passengers who got on the jeep after my girlfriend and me. It was a father, a mother, and three young children in Halloween costumes. Finding a jeep with enough space for an entire family is a miracle in modern commuting. The family settled in front of us. The dad had the youngest in his arms, careful not to wake them up as he reached for his fanny pack to pay the fare. The daughter, dressed as a fairy, sat on her mother's lap. She stared blankly at the road, oblivious to the serious conversation her parents were having behind her. Beside the mom sat a young boy dressed as a skeleton. I could tell by his height and contemplative face that he was the eldest. What caught my attention about them was how “un-parentlike” they looked. As a kid, I thought of fathers and mothers as being these galactic, unchanging entities. But now that I'm older, and some of my friends are becoming parents themselves, I've begun to realize that the parents I was looking…