First Mother’s Day without Mommy
Dearest Mommy,
This is the first Mother’s Day without you. It has never been the same since that sad and gloomy day. We terribly miss you—your reassuring presence in the house, your ceremonious cooking, your occasional nagging, your constant caring and doting on us.
In the supermarket, we used to push a cart each; actually, you pushed yours and our driver, Jun, pushed mine. Now, it’s only Jun pushing mine. Sitting in the car with you meant hearing endless complaints about the reckless drivers, the traffic, the poor road condition, etc.; now, it’s just music on the car radio I hear.
I didn’t renew our newspaper subscription because no one will spend the whole morning reading them. After devouring the daily, it would be crosswords, find-the-word, or Sudoku. Or, you would spend hours talking on the phone with your sister who you would be seeing after lunch for bingo at Resorts World.
Arriving home after work, I would see you, legs resting on an ottoman, either watching the news or your favorite telenovela. When eating out, it always had to be Chinese. And how you planned and prepared the food when we were expecting guests at home! I could go on and on and on. One thing I can say now is that we continue doing most of the things (except bingo) we saw you doing since we were still young. Yes, we’re now mini-yous!
You left us with an indelible mark of what you were as a mother, a wife, a daughter, a tita, a friend. We will always cherish the memories with you and we will forever be grateful that God made you our mother.
Today, we are celebrating your unconditional love and how you were simply the best mother we could ever have. Our endless gratitude to you … we love you so much, Mommy!
Until we see each other again,
Jojie and Keik
Herminia Tuazon Lloren, mother of fashion designer Jojie Lloren, was a Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. department head.
