My Daddy and Mommy

There are many "co-incidences" in Daddy's and Mommy's lives that it seems it is not a coincidence at all that they met and became one when they did. Both are from the same town of Pilar in Bataan. Both are the youngest child in their respective families. Both grew up celebrating the the wrong birth dates. Both studied in the same elementary school and high school in Balanga, Bataan. Both of their families evacuated to Pampanga by boat during the Second World War.... incidentally (or not!) both families stayed in the same evacuation center ....this they determined after they and their families have met!. Both went to Manila to study after the war. Both stayed in Caloocan City among relatives while studying in Manila. And, not to mention, both were goodlooking during their prime of youth!

Daddy met Mommy while they were living in the same area in Caloocan City. Daddy was with her niece (by his older half-sister) and her family at a house about 50 meters away from the ancestral home of Mommy, who was then staying there with my Ima Unday. Being both from the same town, they were bound to meet each other. At the time they met, Daddy was dating other women (this is according to Ima Unday) but he courted Mommy incessantly, even walking alone late at night the long walk from his home in town to Mommy's village home when they were back in Bataan. This road is known as being haunted because you have to pass by a nearby cemetery, as well as a very huge, old narra tree in front of the old elementary school which was used by the Japanese troops as a garrison where many Filipino fighters met their fate. In other words, he was just being his brave and "Pabling" self.

After dating for some time, they decided to get "secretly married", or SM as they called it. on January 16, 1952 in a civil ceremony in Markina City. At that time, Daddy was graduating from college while Mommy was on her Junior year as a B.S. Pharmacy student. For their SM, Daddy used the money that was given to him to pay for his college ring! According to Mommy, the real reason why they got married early was because Daddy wanted her to quit the Bb. Bulaklak beauty pageant in which she was a finalist. Following almost a year of being "married", yet not living together (but seeing each other secretly daily), they finally had to tell their respective families about their status ... and so, they were married in church on Christmas Day of 1952 at the parish church inside the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

Being newly-weds wasn't easy for Mommy & Daddy. When Ima Unday found out about their secret marriage, Ima Unday, who was a seamstress and sewed most of Mommy's dresses, tore all her clothes. Their youngest brother, Tio Esming, who was then in the US Navy and was supporting Mommy's education, stopped sending money and even stopped communicating with the entire family. Daddy and Mommy rented a small house in Project 4 Quezon City. In May of the following year, 1953, their first son was born. In early 1955, son number two was born, followed by son number three in late 1956. In 1958, the family moved to their own home in Project 8 Quezon City.... where the house still stands and where Daddy and Mommy still live.

Throughout their married life until 1986, Daddy and Mommy never left each other's side (except for a month in the 70's when Daddy went to Europe to attend a training program by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and together they worked to support the family. In 1978, their youngest child, the one and only girl, was born. In 1986, Mommy, together with her youngest, moved to the US to help in the furniture business of a cousin. This was the first time that Daddy and Mommy really lived apart from each other; but this didn't last for very long because in 1991, Daddy followed Mommy to the US after his retirement from the government service a year earlier. Seven years later, in 1998, Daddy and Mommy both came home to Project 8 for good.

During the first part of the new millennium, both Daddy and Mommy suffered setbacks, as far as their health was concerned. In December of 2000, Daddy suffered a stroke and subsequently developed pneumonia for which he was hospitalized in intensive care for three weeks. At that time, I was the only one of their children living here in Manila, the others were with their own families abroad. When we brought Daddy out of the hospital, it was against the advice of his doctors. At that time, Daddy has suffered his 4th hospital-acquired bacterial infection and was being given very a expensive 4th generation antibiotic .....the newest in the market that time. I figured that if Daddy overcomes this latest infection then gets another hospital-acquired infection, there won't be any antibiotic that could be used against this resistant strain. And so, with my suggestion Mommy and I decided to bring Daddy home and converted their room at home into a clean, totally-sealed hospital room with all the necessary gadgets and a 24-hour private nursing care at hand.

It was during this time that I personally experienced how much love Mommy has for Daddy. One early morning, at about 2:30 am, I was awakened by a very angelic-sounding and soothing Tagalog love song softly coming from Daddy's bed. (I was then sleeping on a folding bed on the floor at the foot of his bed.) At first I thought I was dreaming and although the room light was turned off, it was not entirely dark 'coz a little bit of light was coming into the room from the outside. I opened my eyes and in the dark I saw Mommy's silhoutte hugging and cradling Daddy in her arms while singing a hauntingly beautiful song about promises, about romance, and about love! I've never heard that song before and I don't know if Mommy just made it up.... but it was so beautiful, I immediately felt that everything will be alright! I fell asleep again feeling a great wave of relief overcoming me while tears came down my eyes. Together with Mommy's loving care and the help of cousins and nurses as well as a very good physical therapist who did home service calls, Daddy recovered with some side-effects.

The following year, at almost the same time as the preceding year, Mommy was hospitalized for colo-rectal cancer. A few months prior to that, she started losing weight and had frequent stomach aches. At first, she thought it was because of her heart condition, subsequently, she was diagnosed to have a malignant growth in the colon near the border with the rectum. She didn't take any medications for this, instead every Wednesdays and Saturdays, I took Mommy and Daddy to an RVM sister who was doing healing sessions somewhere in Caloocan City. We'd leave very early in the morning so that we'll be there early and be able to have them signed up among the first to be seen by the Sister because hundreds of people do come from near and far to see the Sister during these days. Then we'd stay there the whole morning until mid afternoon when the healing session starts. In the meantime, prior to the sessions, we'd hear mass, pray the rosaries, and listen to the Sister's "sermons and stories". Fortunately for us, the healing sessions would start with the very ill first, then with the children, then with the elderly and those with cancer, followed by the rest. By the time we leave the place, it'll be about 9:00 pm. In one of the sessions, the Sister told Mommy that she's already "healed", but for her peace of mind, she can go ahead and have the operation. And so, in early December of 2001, Mommy had the growth removed. During that time, Kuya has come home and he was with us to deal with the situation.

At present, Mommy has just been declared cancer-free a few months ago in spite of not having undergone radiation or chemotherapy after her operation. She does suffer some aches and pains as part of growing old. Daddy, on the other hand, still has the side-effects of his stroke and pneumonia, but is otherwise eating very heartily. Both still walk to church to attend mass everyday... and their love for each other still endures!!!