Mama

mama with her two daughter.

MAMA... My mother is a spinner of dreams, but sometimes killer of possibilities. Hard-hearted but for many a real good woman. She overprotected me to the point that I thought I wasn't capable of simply living in the world. She made me feel like there was nothing I could do myself without her. She never let me go barefoot, never let me play with most of the children in the street. I couldn't stay after school to play, I couldn't date boys, I couldn't walk to the movies or stay out after 6 o'clock. It was always: 'Don't do that, you'll get hurt.' 'You can't do that yourself, let me do it for you.' 'Wait till I help you with that.' And there was a time that I can't stand to all of these and I tried to run away from home. There were times that I do things I shouldn't do or not do things I should, just to feel safe or to be---for mama: 'respectable'. For mama, she gave me upbringing that matters in this world that makes me appreciate the finer things in life.

a month before I got married.

mama with my son. Our son's first visit in the Philippines.

Looking back, I come to think: where would I be now If I totally ran away from her strict upbringing and gone wild with the wild side of this world? I had long realized that she was no longer my most powerful amulet against danger. I can do things on my own now with her smile of approval. I am forever grateful that mama instill in my heart the belief that "mother knows best". I did, and I do, love my mother.