It was family day last April 28, Sunday. We celebrated my Mom's birthday. How time flies.
Ang nanay ko, lola na. We had a grand time at
Ace Water Spa. What can I say, almost three straight hours of water therapy, and still, the kids would bargain for more minutes. Never mind if their fingers and toes looked like wrinkled raisins. We love the thought that all cousins, except one (a newborn), were spending happy times together.
And the Chinese dinner that followed was a satisfying ending, to a fun-filled afternoon of togetherness.
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| Dinner at Mandarin Sky in Banawe |
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| The whole brood (minus my seaman brother and their new-born baby) |
When it was over, we kissed our parents goodbye like we always do. My mom was standing on the side street, sending off each one of us. Waving her hand and giving us a flying kiss. I realized how much I missed her. And how time flies.
Nine years na pala yun, when I moved out of our house to live separately and start a family of my own. I can still hear her,
"Kahit gusto ko na maiwan kayong lahat dito, ang tama, magsarili kayo. Diyan lang kayo matututo. Paano 'pag namatay ako? Kayo din ang kawawa." I knew in my heart she was right. I'm happy being married. But nevertheless, the feeling of leaving someone you love, to be physically apart from them, is something that brings out the cry baby in me. Leaving my parents was life-changing. It taught me valuable lessons which I wouldn't learn had I not settled with Ramir. Also, I realized that no distance can ever change the fact that I am a daughter. There will always be an invisible love string that forever binds me to my mom (and dad too). And now that I am a mother too, I love and appreciate her more.
Our goodbye moment outside the restaurant, gave a series of flashbacks - waking up to her kind of music, her cooking, her talking on the phone with someone, her constant movement around the house, her smell, her
chika while dressing up. And I was transported to the day when I entered our old room and all our
kalats were not there anymore. The only reminder that the room formerly housed four tightly knit individuals who came from one wonderful mother, were the four graduation photos which were hanging on the wall. Ahhh. Those were the days.
And as I close our car's window and head our way, I thought, if can be as good as my mother, not just in mothering, but in life, I think I'll be fine.
P.S. To you Nanay, I'll always love you
. And I'll always be your
panganay. And thank you for the wonderful life that you have given us. It wasn't luxurious, nor lavish, but it was enough to make us feel loved and blessed. The most important lessons in life (which I'm still struggling to teach our kids), I learned under our roof in Sto. Rosario and Santulan, under your tutelage. You and Tatay are indeed two of my life's greatest blessings. Mahal na mahal. Rok
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