A Fun-Filled Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. I had some plans for today. First, me and my wife, Jackie, would go to the wet market for our weekly food ration. This should take at least two hours the most. Then we would dress the kids for church. After which, we would eat out for lunch to grace Mama for her 'day', and keep her off the kitchen for a while. After lunch, we would probably bring the kids to the Worlds Of Fun for a change.

Anyway, on our way to the wet market, Jackie received an MMS from our eldest daughter, Janina. She sent a picture of them three sisters, with the note of their love to their mother. She was moved by our daughter's gesture. She can only smile.

But the more she got surprised when upon opening her wallet to take out some money, there was a folded piece of paper pad inserted therein. At first she thought that maybe it was a trace of a foot as the kids were asking their mom to buy them new sandals. But to her amazement, it was a message from our second child, Joanna.

As she read our little angel's message, I felt a pinch in my heart. I became a bit of emotional. Damn, it feels so touching to receive messages from kids, even as young as they are. That even when the messages were not for me, I can feel how my wife did. There should be a sense of contentment, of gratefulness, of satisfaction. She could only be thankful having wonderful kids, making her heart so filled. I just hope she feels the same with me as her husband.

So upon arriving from the market, she bathed the two younger kids, dressed them up, and fixed herself after. Then Janina and I would fix ourselves too. But as usual, we would always be too slow in dressing up that we left home already at 11:00 in the morning. Jackie was quite angry because we have to skip church. Certainly, it would have been better if we heard the mass first. At least her day could have some spiritual touch.

And so we proceeded to the mall directly.

We used to live near Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall, and we could always go malling everytime we wish to. But since we moved to Antipolo, the kids were confined 'under duress' in our place. So now, bringing them to the mall is almost sending them to heaven. Of course it is also our joy to see our kids happy. And I believe that making them feel that way is our obligation too.

Our youngest, Jia, was shouting and ecstatically screaming upon setting foot inside the mall. She was very joyful running all around. And suddenly she would halt and dance by the beat of the piped-in music. We were all laughing at her. What a joy to see the kids really happy. Jackie and I would smile at each other. We sat on a corner for a while, and let Jia have a kiddie ride. We moved for a bit more, and then we decided to have lunch.

So we held hands going to find a nice restaurant. A sort of a "unity walk" for the family, as Janina had put it. As expected, all foodhouses were flooded. Long queues everywhere. Already sort of starving due to the inviting flocks of whole families, we decided to go to KFC; spaghetti for Jia, mashed potato meal for Joanna, hamburger and french fries for Janina, chicken chops for Jackie, and hot spicy chicken for me. Just a simple lunch. We are always happy with anything anyway. For another, we had a late breakfast. So we really ain't that starving actually.

So after lunch we planned to go to the carnival. Upon walking out from KFC, my wife saw her shoes to be damaged. A leaf was detached. And she can not walk properly. The kids suggested that she buys a cheap footwear so we can still proceed malling. But Mama said she has just got so many shoes and buying another would just be a waste of money. And so without so much ado, we went home instead.

The kids were quite sad, but the feeling of satisfaction having us altogether malling around visibly overwhelmed their glum. We watched TV altogether, and played with Jelai (our pet dog) for a while. We slept for over an hour, and then it was dinner time. Watched TV again, and when quite late, kissed each other good night. It was another great day once again, and just a 1/365-day of a whole year for Mama playing the eternal 'mother' role.