Womanhood and Everything in Between

*I almost forgot I still have this in my draft. Good thing it is still May, pwede ko pang ihabol. =) "Alam mo bang chikboy 'yan si R?" Yan ang unang sentence na sinabi sakin ni mother-in-law. At nawindang ako mga mare. Unang punta ko nun sa bahay nila sa Mindoro. First time ko rin silang makikilala and vice versa. I arrived early in the morning when everybody was still fast asleep. Around noon na ako lumabas ng room ni R kasi (1) maagang lumabas ng kwarto ang mokong (2) hindi ko alam kung saan sya pumunta, at (3) hindi ko alam kung sino ang bubungad sakin sa labas ng kwarto nya. Bilang babae na hindi rin naman ganun ka-liberated and bilang nasa probinsya ako na malamang conservative ang mga tao, nahihiya talaga ako nung mga panahon na yun. Ano na lang ang sasabihin nila, di ba? Na ako pa talaga ang pumupunta sa bahay ng anak nila. Gayunpaman, wala na akong nagawa kundi kapalan na lang ang aking mukha. =) After I heard those words from Nanay, yung ngiti ko na hanggan...

I'm bad, I know! But it's better late than never. So.... Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms I know! And even to those moms I haven't met yet!

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EIGHT LIES OF A MOTHER  Anonymous The story began when I was a child. I was born as a son of a poor family. Even for eating, we often got lack of food. Whenever the time for eating, mother often gave me her portion of rice. While she was removing her rice into my bowl, she would say "Eat this rice, son. I'm not hungry". That was Mother's First Lie. When I was getting to grow up, the persevering mother gave her spare time for fishing in a river near our house, she hoped that from the fishes she got, she could gave me a little bit nutritious food for my growth. After fishing, she would cook the fishes to be a fresh fish soup, which raised my appetite. While I was eating the soup, mother would sit beside me and eat the rest meat of fish, which was still on the bone of the fish I ate. My heart was touched when I saw it. I then used my chopstick and gave the other fish to her. But she immediately refused it and said "Eat this fish, son. I don't really lik...

I am my mother's only child (I have a half sister and two half brothers) but I grew up with my cousins kaya hindi ko rin naramdaman na mag isa ako. It is still clear to me up to now my childhood memories. Every summer, we travel 8 irksome-hours (or more) by public bus so we can spend it to wherever my father was assigned. He was a military man (then transferred to Navy and retired as Coastguard). Well, that's basically the reason why I always tell people that I was raised by my mom, alone. Because she literally did so. And also because my parents were never married. But I never had any reason not to be a better person. I was never deprived with anything that a normal family has. My cousins and I treated each other like real siblings. They became my family. My uncles and aunts are all parents to me. My mom succeed in that aspect. She never made me feel alone, or worse, illegitimate. Because I always have a family I can call my own. Siguro kaya ako attached sa mga beauty salon ...

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I ask myself that question everyday. Am I a good mother? I want to be the best mother I could ever be. I guess most of us do. But how do we measure the goodness of a mother? I grew up in Bicol with my mom. I grew up with my mom's oldest brother as my Papa. My biological father was in different places because of his work as a military man. (He then transferred to Navy and retired as a Coastguard.) I only saw him during summer vacations. My mother raised me alone. She worked her ass day and night to provide me decent meals and nice clothes. She managed to send me to a private school while she ran her salon and her other sidelines. She was into Avon, Natasha, Boardwalk, Triumph and more others. I saw her at her best and worst, strong and weak. I witnessed how she struggled for both of us to survive. And I love her more than anything in this world. She IS the BEST mother, a mother could ever be. I can never be compared to her. I have two wonderful-smart-lovely daughters. My eldes...