Last weekend I had the chance to spend my mum’s birthday with her in Iloilo in the company of her old friends who were more like second family to us. Given the busy lives that we both lead, it was very rare for me to have my mum all to myself and I was very thankful that I got to spend those precious moments with her.
My mum was diagnosed with renal cancer, stage three, in 2005. She opted to have her right kidney removed along with the tumor, and since then have tried to live as normal a life as possible for a person who has lost a kidney, the appendix and the gall bladder. In spite of her health problems and her old age, she still continues to teach at the same elementary school she has taught for more than forty years. I know my mum to be a real fighter but each day I cannot help but feel afraid of losing her, being fully aware of everything that she has gone through and is going through.
Sometimes I get so caught up with the rigors of work and my other commitments that I do not have so much time to spend with my parents. However I was reminded by ate Debbie of an important life lesson that we sometimes take for granted: that we could always tell people we love them but our time remains to be the most precious gift that we could give.
I always tell my mum that I love her, before I go to sleep or before I hang up on the phone. I see her at breakfast everyday and during dinner if I am not too tired to eat. But it had been quite long since we traveled together so off to Iloilo we went for a rare birthday treat for her.
We were met at the airport by tita Ning Samar and her family. Tita Ning, whom we stayed with in Iloilo, is a friend of my mum for more than thirty years but had not seen for about twenty. Thanks to the power of google and the internet, I found a way to look up tita Ning and arranged for the visit. As it turned, it was some sort of a happy homecoming, save for the fact that my mum is not from Iloilo.
Not like my usual backpack trips that I spent sightseeing or seeking adventure, I learned to appreciate even the smaller details that defined that trip with my mum. I relished getting up late in the morning to find her next to me, or that I could stay up late and watch her do her novenas. We spent the days together doing mundane things, like going to the market to buy dried fish or strolling in the town plazas we visited.
What made the trip even more special and meaningful for my mum was the surprise birthday that tita Ning’s family arranged for her on the last day of our stay. My mum woke up early to go to church, only to find out that Tita Norma, tita Ning’s sister, baked a birthday cake. What we did not even know was that there was a lunch party with guests who are also teachers in the local elementary school. It was one of those few heartwarming moments in life when you meet people who are strangers and turn out to be like your good friends an hour later. It really caught me off guard because that day I was on a hurry to get back to Pampanga to guest in a television show. I was overwhelmed by the efforts and loving gestures of my mum’s friends when I haven’t had decided yet where to take my mum out to dinner for her birthday.
I am glad that my mum had a wonderful birthday this year. She says it is one of the best ever. And I am happy that I am somehow part of it. In all my columns before I almost never talked about family, and I just would like to let my mum know how much I love her and appreciate her by seeing the surprise look on her face when she reads this one.
Thank you so much to tita Ning and her family for the gift of time and home that you have extended to us. I would like you to know that you, too, have a home here in Pampanga.
Sometimes we tell people we love them but we don’t really spend quality time with them. One important lesson I learned from our bonding moment is that love really is not enough when you don’t take time to make your love one feel it.
My mum was diagnosed with renal cancer, stage three, in 2005. She opted to have her right kidney removed along with the tumor, and since then have tried to live as normal a life as possible for a person who has lost a kidney, the appendix and the gall bladder. In spite of her health problems and her old age, she still continues to teach at the same elementary school she has taught for more than forty years. I know my mum to be a real fighter but each day I cannot help but feel afraid of losing her, being fully aware of everything that she has gone through and is going through.
Sometimes I get so caught up with the rigors of work and my other commitments that I do not have so much time to spend with my parents. However I was reminded by ate Debbie of an important life lesson that we sometimes take for granted: that we could always tell people we love them but our time remains to be the most precious gift that we could give.
I always tell my mum that I love her, before I go to sleep or before I hang up on the phone. I see her at breakfast everyday and during dinner if I am not too tired to eat. But it had been quite long since we traveled together so off to Iloilo we went for a rare birthday treat for her.
We were met at the airport by tita Ning Samar and her family. Tita Ning, whom we stayed with in Iloilo, is a friend of my mum for more than thirty years but had not seen for about twenty. Thanks to the power of google and the internet, I found a way to look up tita Ning and arranged for the visit. As it turned, it was some sort of a happy homecoming, save for the fact that my mum is not from Iloilo.
Not like my usual backpack trips that I spent sightseeing or seeking adventure, I learned to appreciate even the smaller details that defined that trip with my mum. I relished getting up late in the morning to find her next to me, or that I could stay up late and watch her do her novenas. We spent the days together doing mundane things, like going to the market to buy dried fish or strolling in the town plazas we visited.
What made the trip even more special and meaningful for my mum was the surprise birthday that tita Ning’s family arranged for her on the last day of our stay. My mum woke up early to go to church, only to find out that Tita Norma, tita Ning’s sister, baked a birthday cake. What we did not even know was that there was a lunch party with guests who are also teachers in the local elementary school. It was one of those few heartwarming moments in life when you meet people who are strangers and turn out to be like your good friends an hour later. It really caught me off guard because that day I was on a hurry to get back to Pampanga to guest in a television show. I was overwhelmed by the efforts and loving gestures of my mum’s friends when I haven’t had decided yet where to take my mum out to dinner for her birthday.
I am glad that my mum had a wonderful birthday this year. She says it is one of the best ever. And I am happy that I am somehow part of it. In all my columns before I almost never talked about family, and I just would like to let my mum know how much I love her and appreciate her by seeing the surprise look on her face when she reads this one.
Thank you so much to tita Ning and her family for the gift of time and home that you have extended to us. I would like you to know that you, too, have a home here in Pampanga.
Sometimes we tell people we love them but we don’t really spend quality time with them. One important lesson I learned from our bonding moment is that love really is not enough when you don’t take time to make your love one feel it.
