Sunday is MOTHER'S DAY...a day especially for MOTHERS, MOMS, MOMMYS, NANAYS, INAYS, INANGS, NANANGS, MUDRAS, KYOMIS, MAMALACIOUSES...

i never thought that one day, i'd end up so sentimental with days like this. i would usually just buy cards for my mom, grandma, my aunties, my friends, my coworkers. when i came here, things gave me a different perspective in life. i became more conscious of other people's feelings. i got more aware of the things that go on around me.

it's mother's day. my day. my mom's day. my aunties' day. my grandma's day. all of us have moms. some have stepmoms, foster moms, adoptive moms...still...they're still MOTHERS. me, i only have one mommy. her name is ROSE. she has 4 children and 5 grandchildren. she is a very simple person but a very extraordinary mother. we never agreed on anything when i was a kid. i would always object to everything that she wanted. i hated her strictness, her yakkity yakks, her nonstop bugging. but, what can i do? she's the mother in the house and i'm just the daughter. if i had another mother, i'm sure, she would have kicked my ass out of the house a long time ago. but, my MOMMY, she kept me in her arms. she kept me in her warm blanket. she kept me in a pleasant environment. she made sure that i was safe. she made sure that i was alright. she never cared if i was bad to her. all she knew was that she's my MOMMY. everything else did not matter.

too late for regrets, though. if i didn't make those mistakes in the past, i wouldn't learn that things can be done in a different and better way. now that i am a mother, and now that i am far from home, i realized that little by little, i start to understand every little thing that my mom told me, evey little detail that she taught me, every little move that she showed me, every little step that she took for me. she was never a bad mother. she was never a harsh mother. she was never an abusive mother. and now that i am more matured, i know that if she gave up on me, i wouldn't be the person i am now.

i am far from her but, with all the things that happened in those 2 years that i was away, we grew closer. our relationship right now is beyond compare. she transformed from being my mom to being my very best friend. i used to hate her calling me and checking up on me when i'm not yet home past curfew but, now, i long to hear her voice. i can't wait to get home and call her and talk to her. we burn the phone lines worse than those telebabad teen-agers. we would talk for hours and still text each other after we put down the phone. i tell her everything and i never felt so good sharing her my life, my thoughts, my dreams.

i love my mommy and i just hope that all kids learn to appreciate thier MOTHERS--those women who stay in the kitchen cooking all day, those women who chase the buses and the trains in the morning to go to work and in the afternoon to go home, those women who wash and iron uniforms, those women who hold your hands when you're scared in the dark, those women who kiss your bruised knee, those women who will never get tired loving their children unconditionally...

ROSE, WE LOVE YOU!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS IN THE WORLD!