It is now August 17, 2025. It has been years since I wrote about my mother's past. The failure to continue with the process is truly regrettable. My mother is now 97 years old and has dementia/Alzheimer's. From time to time, she is lucid but most of the time her recollection is less than accurate. I will do my best to write about her past from what I can recall.
In the last article about mom, I stopped at the point where she graduated from college and started life as a single young woman. I have seen photographs of mom and dad with friends at a picnic. I think they met through friends. My aunt (mom's younger sister, 6th sibling among a total of 8 kids) said that the courtship was pretty intense and serious. My dad who lived in a different island albeit still in the southern part of the Philippines traveled often to visit my mom. My grandmother told me stories about how my dad would bring her several pieces of fabric and several colors of thread because she (my grandmother) was very much into embroidery. I have some pieces of my grandmother's work and they are incredible. I am afraid to use them for fear of ruining the work. Don't forget that the embroidery was all done by hand and not by machine. Aside from bringing gifts for my grandmother, my dad also brought a whole bunch of gifts for mom. My paternal grandmother (dad's mother, Lola Eliang) had told me that despite bad weather like typhoons my dad would insist on taking the boat ride that would bring him to my mom's hometown so he could see her. He was seriously smitten by my beautiful mom. My mom told me years later after dad died that she had a whole bunch of suitors who were better looking than my dad. Mom, however, was one who took my grandmother's advice seriously. My grandmother really like my dad's sincerity. She felt he would be a very good provider and more importantly, a faithful husband. I am pretty sure she encouraged mom to date and, eventually, marry my dad. They were married on December 23, 1952.
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