Sexy, Innocent Child-Woman

A Mother's Day post

Happy Mother's day to my mom! And Happy Mother's day to all the mother-figures in my life (that includes my vakler friends--you know who you are), and everyone else who is either a mother or a mother-figure to someone. To everyone in my blogger's circuit, happy mother's day to you and/or your moms and/or mother-figures in life, as well.

I stayed up till 1AM and fell asleep while waiting for my sister to text me as to what time I should call home, since mahirap hagilapin ang nanay ko kasi laging busy. I didn't get up till 1030AM so obviously, Mother's Day in the Philippines was drawing to an end. During the first couple of times that I called, no one answered the phone. My mom also didn't answer her cellphone. Good thing one of my sisters was awake, so she finally answered the phone and woke up my mom, so I got to talk to her.

Ever since I moved to the States, my mom and I have become closer, somehow. We still have our differences, but I feel I've become much more open to her ever since I came here--which is a blessing, since I was more secretive during my high school and college years. My mom is also my shock absorber. I rant about everything to her--everything from the stress of being in graduate school and looking for a job/scholarship for next year to my tsismosa and pakialamera tita based in LA (who happens to be her childhood friend). I've become more spontaneous with her to the point that I don't watch my mouth when I tell her about the options/choices I'm considering, even when she looks at things differently. And if I happen to disagree with what she thinks, I just go ahead and say my piece anyway (I've been doing this recently, hehe). I've always been too independent, stubborn, and transparent for my own good and living in the U.S. for almost three years has definitely enhanced that side of me. To some people, such attributes on my part can be a nightmare. But it's proven to be my saving grace. Otherwise, I would have become the biggest doormat a long time ago.

***

Before I went to bed last night, I sent a text message to my friends on death row in the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW), to greet them "Happy Mother's Day"--and to greet one of them "Happy Birthday" in advance. None of the inmates have cellphones, which is against the rules at CIW (although one of them recently smuggled a cellphone, which was intercepted last January). Luckily, I have the cellphone number of Ma'am Len, a security guard in CIW who is nice enough to relay my messages to the inmates. She has helped me stay in touch with my sisters in CIW, big time. During my last trip to the Philippines over the holidays, during which I visited my friends in CIW a lot and even stayed the night on death row once, I found out that she would copy my messages and hand them to one of the inmates I'm really close to. On occasion, the inmates also send text messages to their loved ones/significant others/friends through her cellphone. Once, an inmate on death row had a brother who got hospitalized and she kept in touch with her family through Ma'am Len's cellphone. I don't think Ma'am Len even charges the inmates for using her cellphone. I told some nun-friends (from the Grand Rapids Dominicans) about it when they came to Chicago last April 24th, and they said that would never happen here. Despite the recent siege of the Bicutan prison and the overcrowding of prisons in the Philippines in general, penitentiaries in the Philippines seem to be more humanitarian than their first-world counterparts. Anyway, I hope my friends on death row, whom I've come to consider my sisters and (even mother-figures, for some) got my message. They wrote me a letter, which I received during Holy Week, but I still haven't written them back. Yikes!

found herself @ 5:25 PM