photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/piusen/
or in english "It's tough raising kids but it's tougher raising parents."
I heard this line the first time from my Mom and had no idea what she meant at that time. Through the years I slowly realized what she meant with our family living at Mommyla's (our maternal grandmother) house and my Mom was left with the task of taking care of Mommyla, not that my grandmother was an invalid, not at all! Mommyla was a diva before divas became in fashion in the Philippines! A local socialite known for her parties and flair for fashion. Although my Mom was just as fashionable and both held the respected positions at our matriarchal family, Mom was more of the quintessential housewife: quiet and refined and did her duties as the
loving wife and mother to the hilt. No wonder they always clashed! They both had very strong personalities with Mommyla the ala-Gabriela Silang (a Philippine heroine/ warrior) archetype while Mom was the epitome of martyrdom as a wife.
When Mom passed away in 2001--- a day after 9-11--- the torch was passed on to me and my sister: now it's our turn to take care of our Dad when we moved out of Mommyla's house where we were born and lived for 28 years.
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