happy mother's day!

as i join the worldwide celebration of motherhood, i write this entry not to praise my own dear Marmee but in recognition of other great women i've had the pleasure of knowing.

among my friends' moms, there are three i feel particularly fond of. tita violy, rae's mom, makes me feel as though i were one of her own: calling me 'anak' and preparing her special rosemary chicken dish when i come to visit. in high school, my barkada usually went to sherrie's house in makati for group projects because it was the most convenient and tita shirley kept us well-fed with chocolate. (i miss those lindt truffles o_0.) having met tita tin personally (and reading jilly's blog), i'd say she's just the coolest mom ever (although my mom has her cool moments, too).

inay beni santos is practically everyone's adoptive literary mommy. it was her poem (sa aking mangingibig) that led me to first appreciate filipino literature. i still get kilig whenever i see her, and especially when she replies to my text messages.

of course, when it comes to lit, achi cathy candano comes to mind with her older sister-motherly ways of nurturing her "baby fellows" and nagging, erm, encouraging me to start writing poetry. she "threatened" me once: i WILL wait. achi, you're the sweetest bitch ever. i love you.

and finally, there is a certain woman i lately realized i had a lot of respect and admiration for. i summoned up just enough guts to text her the requisite "happy mother's day" greeting and nothing more--it would have been too weird and embarassing. it must be already unusual for me to revere her so but the reason i do is really very simple. and i do hope i'd be able to tell her so someday.

dr. porio used to tell our class, "there are three ways of achieving immortality: plant a tree, write a book, have a child."

(okay, before you get any ideas, that's no excuse for another population boom. sheesh.)

happy mother's day!