Remembering Mom on Mother's Day

What's a better way of celebrating Mother's Day than remembering your mother and paying a tribute to all her unconditional love, sacrifices, unselfish and caring ways, together with your loved ones (not all of them) on this special day.

Now that I have children of my own, I have come to realize that she was not an ordinary mother; she was a supermom. Looking back, I am amazed at how she was able to juggle her time between her work and her devotion to her kids when we were growing up.

She became a widow at the age of 41, her second and last marriage (her first husband was a casualty of war). She remained unmarried until the day she died, unconcerned for the attention quite a few gentlemen had given her. Instead, her time was spent religiously on her obligations to raise her three daughters, and managed to send them to one of the best private schools in the country at that time.

On her spare time, she volunteered to teach impoverished young women on home economics, focusing on cooking, sewing, and other income-generating arts and crafts, a goverment program she launched together with my Aunt Julie Pobre, under President Ramon Magsaysay's administration.

It's been 16 years since my mother passed away, but the lessons she taught us in life will be with us forever. It will be passed on to the next generation.

We saw how she worked hard, how she treated people with respect, how devoted she was with her children, how she made sure our physical and emotional needs were met, cared for us when we were sick, and showed us how to love and trust God.

As I was writing this blog, Christina and Ann (my son, Bernard Kho's girlfriend) came home with a bouquet of flowers for me. Christina bought rack of lamb for me to cook for dinner and Ann bought chocolate brownie with dulce de leche ice cream for dessert. We took some pics and hopefully we can post them tonight.