Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday she was up earlier than usual just to accompany Bela to a meet and greet where she stood in line for hours just to grant her daughter’s wish of meeting YouTube celebs she did not even know.

She then rushed home to prepare this Sunday’s feast for my Mom.

At 8 pm she braved the Saturday traffic to get to Malolos at 10 pm to join his brother’s barangay captain campaign and to bring food supplies for Monday’s elections.

She then drove back home at near midnight but not before driving by McDonald’s to get nuggets for our son’s midnight meal.

A typical day for a super Mom, a woman who expresses her love through her countless acts of service to her kids and her immediate and extended family.

We love you, Patricia Bautista-Mercado!

Who?!?

Bela: I am so happy I got my wish! I met my favorite YouTube stars, the Merrel Twins!

Me: Great! Happy for you! Ah, who are they?!

Pot Luck

It's the last day of school and the kids will have a salu salo and year end concert to celebrate the end of the school year. Bela and her classmates were each tasked to bring fruits good for 5 people for the event.

So Bela brought a 5-piece pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum. 

Happy Anniversary!

Thank you, Patty, for 13 years of togetherness. For all the laughter, all the joy. For all the shared trials and struggles. For all the successes and the many failures.

They say that after many years of married life, a couple soon become like each other, become just one. I beg to disagree.

What I am most grateful for is that although we've both tried early in our married life to correct whatwe then perceived to be the other's negative traits and weaknesses, we eventually learned to just accept each other's otherness.

And we've learned to not only accept but in fact embrace the other as other. An other who is made in the image and likeness of God and therefore worthy of all the love we can humanly muster.

Birthday Girl

Oh the comments and remarks we heard from family and friends after you were born exactly nine years ago, dear Bela.

"She looks just like you, Robbi... your mini me."

But comments like that would just as quickly be followed by a sigh and a rejoinder: "Ay, sayang. Sana kamuka na lang ni Patty."

Well, that's what you get for having a beautiful mom.

Many say that the two of us really share a lot of things in common: the wit, the humor, the bossiness. :)

Yet you are definitely an improvement: your charm, you friendliness and your social skills are of an upgraded version.

And you are certainly growing up to be a very pretty young lady. :)

Happy birthday, dear Bela. And as you grow older, please don't leave your original vintage version too far behind.

Love you!

His Own

And so now he has his own nook at the other end of the verandah. Far enough from his father's own space yet near enough so he doesn't disappear too often into his own world. Quickly arranged by his mother who knows all too well that all boys are protective of the spaces they've already marked as theirs. Once again, peace reigns in the household. :) 

My Space

He already borrows my shoes, he now wears my shirts and this morning he commandeers my favorite hangout spot at home. What's next?
#parentingtrials 

Mahalin mo na lang

Mahalin mo na lang.

That will always be the greatest advice, and greatest prayer, my father taught me.

Love them instead.

When you are mad, or frustrated, or irritated at someone, love them instead. Love them because.

For you will never fully understand an other. Just as you cannot expect an other to fully understand you. So why lose your temper and your peace over an other's perceived misgivings?

Love them instead. Love them because of it. And do it with a an honest smile. With genuine charity. And pray for them. Earnestly. And pray for yourself too. Because it is hard to do, pray for the strength and the humility. Trust in Him who truly knows and understands us all.

Thank you, Dad.

Kapuy

Sa haba ng lakad, porma'y di na tumalab.

Napagod, natulog, pati pagkain ay inisnab.

Birthday Boy

Happy birthday, my dear Gabi. I love it that you share my appetite. And I love it more that you (still) laugh at my jokes. :)

Have a wonderful 12th year. 

Hungry Chef

Caught Gabi in the kitchen twice this weekend, cooking his own merienda.

"It's great that you like to cook, Gabi. You really love to cook, don't you?"

"Hmm, not really. I think I love to eat more."

Gabi didn't make it in his bid to join the Student Council for next school year. And this despite all his hard work in making his campaign materials and miting de avance speech.

He was disappointed. But he didn't want others to notice. I felt so bad for him.

He even wanted to go home early from the Year End celebrations because I guess, he didn't want to hear the official votes announced. He just wanted to go home. And lick his wounds perhaps, in private.

But he did have a request: he wanted to have merienda first in his favorite KFC.

And as he wolfed down the second of his customary three piece original recipe chicken, I finally got the courage to ask him how he felt about the loss.

"I'm okay, Papa. At least I didn't have to go up the stage with all the winners."

He then smiled and quickly turned to devour the last piece of his comfort food.

It was then that I too felt a bit better.

"Yes, my son, life has its fair share of losses and disappointments." I wanted to tell him.

"And we must all learn that it's not the end result but the effort and the struggle that ultimately counts," I would have added.

"As long as we try our best and have the right intention, we are already winners."

I didn't tell him this anymore. I guess he already knew this.

I just smiled at him. And proceeded to finish my own recovery meal.

Kalihim

Gabi told me last Friday that he was running for Secretary (Kalihim) for his school's student council and asked for advice on how to run his campaign.

I gently told him not to take politics too seriously and that the important thing was to always be himself.

This campaign poster is the product of our little talk.

My Love, On Her Birthday

Last Saturday, on the eve of her birthday, she cooked a delicious Japanese spread for close to 30 family members. Today for her birthday, Patty asked to dine in her favorite side-of-the-road ihawan and turo-turo to feast on inihaw na baboy and pancit bihon! This is so Patty!

Happy birthday my dear, Patricia Bautista-Mercado.

I thank God every day for you.

I thank you for your simplicity and cheerfullness. For bringing balance to me who tends to worry too much and over analyze and complicate everything.

Thank you for your generosity and spirit of service. Not only to your big family and close friends but also to my family, most especially my Mom.

And thank you for your patience and love. Especially for old grumpy me. smile emoticon

I love you, my dear Patty. And I thank you for being you.

Happy New Year!

Patty and the kids, who contributed the cash gifts they received for the holidays, surprised me with this magnificent view, and a three day stay at our favorite hotel in the city.

What a way to start 2015!

I adore my family!

Here's to more love, more family, and more surprises this year. smile emoticon

Mean Meanings

"What does extinct mean, papa? What are extinct animals?"

"Animals that lived many, many, many years ago and are no longer around today." I explained.

"Oh, I see," she seemed to understand. "So papa, what dinosaurs were alive when you were a kid?"

Mahiwagang Sinigang

Pati ba naman sa pagsulat ng tula 

Ito ang napili mong paksa

Ano ba talaga ang hiwaga ng sinigang, anak?

E kulang na lang tumayo ka't pumalakpak

Mom

It's truly a day for thanksgiving. It's my mom's birthday!

Thank you, Monina Mercado, for showering us all these years with your love and support. You've always had our back. And this we truly appreciate.

You had a stellar school record - accelerated twice, valedictorian and magna cum laude. You were already a successful journalist. You were working for a newspaper in San Francisco, even covered the funeral of JFK, when Dad called and asked you to marry him.

And you did! You gave up a promising career, came back to the Philippines, married the man you loved, and began building a family and raising seven kids.

You stood quietly behind Dad's back, supporting him in his career, providing for his needs, keeping his house in order. You definitely took the back seat, which I am sure was difficult at times, but you embraced this new life with love. This was your vocation and you learned to live and love it.

And even if from the very beginning Dad asked you not to take on a regular job, you managed on your spare time to build a great career as a writer, editor and publisher. Up to now you continue to work. I so look forward to your book on Lucban!

You took charge of us kids, making sure we always had what we needed. You chose schools where you thought we would flourish and involved yourself actively in the schools' development and growth.

This you always did quietly, without fanfare. (Although I do remember the time you stormed into our school to complain about the corporal punishments we boys were subjected to. A practice that was instantly stopped after your visit.)

I thank you, mom, for always being there behind all of us. Your example, love and quiet support is what keeps us all standing.

My wish is that we, your kids and grandchildren, can now give you the love and support you have given us. Let us take better care of you, mom. It's your turn to be up front. We've got your back.

Love you, mom!

HGO

On this ThrowbackThursday, I honor a great man, Herminio G. Ordoñez, who passed away early this morning.

Minyong Ordoñez or HGO as he was fondly called, was my late father, Tony Mercado's partner for many years in Basic Advertising and all its subsequent permutations.

He was a great man, a creative genius who was responsible for so many successful advertising and marketing milestones. But I will remember him most as a simple, caring, down to earth man whose smile and snicker always put people around him at ease.

He stood as my godfather during my confirmation almost four decades ago. As the ceremony was winding down, he bent over my shoulder and snickered, "O, sasampalin ko na ba ikaw? Yun ang inaantay ko e."

Once in the early 2000s, when I had already left the industry and was stationed in Forest Club in Laguna, a staff member came up to me and said: "Sir, may tao sa gate, malaking tao na may magarang motorsiklo. Kung puede daw siyang mag swimming. Kahit ten minutes lang daw ho."

It was HGO. He took a joy ride on his bike from Majayjay to take a dip in the pool. So we swam, just the two of us, and just talked about anything and everything. After about an hour, he got out of the pool and quickly said goodbye.

"Oh sige, babalik na ako. Baka hanapin na ako ng asawa ko?"

"Hindi ka ba nagpaalam?" I was horrified.

"Hindi na. Ikaw naman ang kasama ko e," he snickered.

The last time I got to chat in length with HGO was sometime in 2013. We both arrived early for a meeting and took advantage of the time waiting for the others to arrive by catching up on each other's lives.

"May picture ka ba ng mga anak mo?" he asked.

"Uy, ang gwapo at ang ganda nila!" he said as I showed him photos of my kids. Then he smiled, and snickered. "But na lang talaga maganda ang asawa mo."

In his 27 October 2013 Gut Feel column that appears in the Inquirer, HGO spoke about watching Tita Tinette, mother of Karen and Claudine, die in his arms in 1984:

"I told the doctors I wanted my wife all to myself. I wanted my wife to die in my arms. I hugged her and put my head on her chest and stayed glued there, listening to her heartbeat—beating, beating slowly, beating weakly, beating faintly until it stopped.

"Then I looked at her face, and I saw the tension and suffering in her countenance disappear in slow motion. I saw her face clear up slowly, gradually regaining her youthfulness and beauty, until what I saw finally was the beautiful face on our wedding day.

"That facial transformation was, for me, the most beautiful and haunting visual experience I’ve ever had in my life. It was a face that dwelt in heaven."

As HGO passed away at 3:17 am this morning, surrounded by the love of his family, I am so sure he too had that face that dwelt in heaven. And perhaps with a smile and a snicker to boot.

Second Date

"Can I be dropped off at your office and have lunch with you?" Bela called after being picked up early from school. "It'll be like another date."

"Sure," I said. "But get food for yourself because I already got a plate of spaghetti for myself."

"Okay. I'll just ask mommy if we can get Jollibee drive through. Then just pay us back, okay?"

So she came. With a smile. And a two piece chicken with rice meal. And large fries. And a yumburger with cheese.

"I brought my own food!" she proclaimed. "All mine!"

Wow. What a high maintenance date, she is.