Been there, ‘hyper’ that
Rarely does my mother get to ride with me when I do my regular errands as, most of the time, she brings her own car to wherever. But during those rare occasions that she gets, it’s either a golden moment between mother and son–or she leaves me irritatingly scratching my head as she alights the vehicle.
Most of the time when this happens, her seating time with me is usually spent bickering, like how I should have left our place minutes earlier to avoid being stuck in traffic or how I could have gently spoken to my kids to avoid unnecessary drama.
You see, my mom, “Aurora,” a strong and independent woman, who co-manages the family business together with my dad, just lives a stone’s throw away from our place. Currently, she has four handsome and pretty children and two adorable grandchildren. Ehem.
At 69 years old, this near-septuagenarian, still consistently and eagerly assumes her motherly role and gives great advice–sometimes too great–unabatingly. And, personally, I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
“Papunta ka pa lang, pabalik na ko,” is her usual cliche since time immemorial. (You’re just on your way there, while I’m already on my way back.) But despite all these, I make sure I get to cherish all these moments with her.
“I can already park my car anytime as I reach my final destination,” she would often quip (or sometimes I would just even catch her saying these words in a serious tone.)
Rare golden moments
In other rare fun moments that we catch each other sharing banter as she becomes my unexpected passenger inside the vehicle, she would excitedly share her treasure trove of experiences while behind the wheel.
“Fresh from college, I remember my Papa gifting me a customized owner jeepney for my 22nd birthday,” she recalled in one of those occasions.
“It’s just appropriate as I used the vehicle as a service vehicle to fetch my older sister who was studying at Letran, which is near the government-controlled broadcast network where I had my first job as production assistant,” she continued.
She shared how it was a “balancing act” to drive the owner-type jeep with manual tranny.
“That time, I struggled with balancing the manual transmission gears: clutch-brake-accelerator. It was such a chore,” she jested.
Hyperactive “generations” family driver
From the owner-type jeep, this former athlete was able to drive the Vauxhall Viva, Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Lite-ace, Mitsubishi Mirage, Daihatsu Charade, Nissan Urvan, and so on and so forth.
“I was young, energetic, active as I was working as a sports broadcast media journalist during my heyday, rushing to venues to cover respective beats especially when government service vehicles were unavailable, beating deadlines for broadcast scripts for live news reporting and sports casting,” she fondly shared.
“I also did racing with the Honda Media Challenge back in the day.”
Moreover, this “action woman” even shared a near-death experience in the late 90s while navigating the “very narrow, steep and winding roads” of Banawe Rice Terraces behind the wheel of an automatic transmission vehicle.
“We were trying to catch up with the media convoy. It was a learning moment for us,” she said.
She even recounted that for almost half a century forward (for almost 50 years–22 years old to 69 years old), she is still able to juggle everything.
“From the hyper-active sports beat, I’m now beating the scheduled times of Eucharistic celebrations and special events particularly that I have been active in the liturgical social communication/media ministries of five community affiliations,” this now part-time devoted church servant said.
“On top of that, I have been the family driver from my sisters and Papa, to my kids and now, grand kids.”
Willing and dedicated grandparent
When both parents (this writer included) of her grandchildren have their plates full in their respective fields, she usually becomes the designated proxy.
“I have been serving as chauffeur to my passengers: 14-year-old grandson and 10-year-old granddaughter, who, aside from accomplishing their academic activities, are likewise venturing into various extra-curricular activities,” she said.
“I have a somewhat dedicated personal vehicle, Mazda CX5, which I have been driving for several years now. I have been able to fix my skeds in such a way that I start my day as early as 4am.”
Uncanny advocacy
With all this driving, she always bears in mind that road safety ought to be a priority. In fact, she has been advocating for it for sometime now.
“ We have been promoting road safety and courtesy through a series of runs that we have conducted with the aim of reminding long-time motorists and educating the younger ones,” she shared pertaining to the activities long-time motoring television show, Auto Review, has been cultivating all these years.
Fulfilling ‘hyper-grandma’ endeavor
Ultimately, for her, she has been quite successful in striking a healthy balance with her role as an entrepreneur, a church servant and a family person.
“Definitely, it’s a fulfilling endeavor at my age now. It may not be as smooth-sailing, but I find my role as ‘hyper-grandma’ truly worthwhile.”
In a nutshell, with relating her life’s journey through driving and seemingly avoiding even the slightest moment of pestering me to the core, she shared: “Each one of us has the opportunity to travel life’s road whether smooth or bumpy. Just learn to stop for a while and gas up or go for service at the proper time. So, you can still move onward with difficulties under control and toward your final destination.”
“At the end of it, you can always say, ‘it was a great ride!”
