My own COLUMN coming around the corner...

That's me, your archetypal housewife ... notably well-fed :) ... queen of my home, at my most element in my kitchen! I love to bake but try guessing what I love better than baking? Eating what I baked!




Since I had my miscarriage, changes started coming into my life. To list down all of them in this post will be one separate story to write about. But I am not writing about that now. I am writing about being offered to write a column for MetroPost, a local publication, from the perspective of a homemaker, that's me!

I am still trying to understand how these changes came about. In a way, it is like being discovered ... I don't really know how to put it ... it's like finally finding my voice and making myself heard, or getting out of my anonymity ... a plain housewife stepping out from the throng ... and speaking out, asserting myself and my ideas!

These are all so new and totally unexpected. In fact, the significance has not hit me yet. I am not even sure if I am going to like leaving my anonymity behind. I am contented that way. And I never had aspirations to the contrary anyway.

Perhaps I am making too much big deal from this development. At this point, I am not even sure if this project will push through, or if it will last, or if somebody would even bother to read my column at all! Besides, having this opportunity to write for a local newspaper does not vest me with celebrity status anyway, so what's this fuss all about?

Wala lang. I am just toying with the idea of this development being part of God's grand plan for me. Maybe, He wants me to do something else with my life, not necessarily my advocacy alone, but something else, something more than what I am now, a simple housewife and mother ......

Trying to comprehend the ways of the Lord can be mind-boggling! Try looking at it from my own point of view. "Ok, God, You placed me in this situation so I can do something bigger than merely living in my own private world as wife and mother. OK, fine with me. So what can I do for You? Keep up with my advocacy? Yes, I may have neglected that for the moment, but I have not forgotten it. Ok, so You want me to do more? Like write a column? Sure, no problem ... but a column about wives and mothers? ... what???? I thought I was supposed to do something bigger than what I am now? And that "bigger" thingy is writing about what I am exactly right now ....... ? OK, now I am really confused, but I will obey. You know me, I do not question too much or for too long, and I generally go where the current leads me. I trust You completely and know You will always be there to guide, protect and direct me wherever Your will will take me.

So here I am now, at this crossroad of my life. I wonder if I have what it takes to see this through. But what the heck !!!! So here goes .......

My first-ever write-up:

HOUSEWIVES ON THE MOVE
Glimpses into the lives of the Stay-at-Home Moms


WELCOME TO OUR WORLD!

Housewife … homemaker … I checked the thesaurus of Microsoft Word for the synonyms of these words, and guess what? I found nothing! What??? We don’t even exist as far as Word is concerned?

Housewives, homemakers, stay-at-home moms, full-time mothers … we are known by many names … I even call myself Chief Executive Officer of my own household! Why not? It is correct, right? I call the shots in my own home and that makes me CEO!

Despite the obvious snob from Word thesaurus (English: U.S.), women like me do exist, thank you. You will find us everywhere in Dumaguete doing our marketing in the tiangge or shopping in the stores and supermarkets. We are very visible around schools mingling with the yayas and doting lolas. If not, we can be found around school gates, slowing down traffic as we take our children to, or fetch them from, school. Some of the more fastidious among our ranks can be found in the schools during lunchtime, packing tupperwares filled with fresh, hot, home-cooked food for our beloved progeny.

Would you like to see a sampling of this exclusive club? Pass by Luce Auditorium on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 5:00 – 6:00 in the afternoon. Look towards the entrance of the dance studio, and you will find us comfortably seated outside, as if in our own living rooms, with our chairs usually arranged in a semicircle (so as to be conducive to conversation), and discussing a myriad of topics ranging from the banal to the sublime. Last Tuesday, we focused on the difficulty of finding good and trustworthy household helps nowadays. We also had a spirited discussion on the question which all mothers, working or not, must have encountered at least once in their lives: how do you feed a child who simply is not interested in eating? That problem may seem simple enough. Well, let me tell you, it is not! Want to borrow my daughter? She has perfected the art of the 2-hour meal. While still in preschool, she would start her breakfast at 9am and finish around 11am, take a 30-minute breather and start with lunch … now you’re getting the picture J. Let me tell you that kind of scene, day after day, meal after meal, is a surefire guarantee to have you pulling your hairs out in frustration and raising your blood pressure to at least 200! Did I mention already that when my BP shots up my voice could be heard all the way to the next barangay?

The life of a stay-at-home mom may be boring to some. To others, it may sound like heaven. It really depends on the convictions, situation, and personal preferences of each individual. It may be a curse or a blessing; a state of choice or one forced upon by circumstances. There are countless facets to the life of a homemaker and the discovery and exploration of the many faces of the “plain housewife” is what this column is all about.

I was invited by my friend Irma Pal to write about these. I will be writing about myself and my life, not only as a full-time mother, but as a figurative “single mom”. Being the wife of an OFW, I am practically alone in the joys and struggles of raising my child. And in this sense, I am “single”.

I will also be writing about other wives and moms whose parallel lives will touch mine as I go about my business as CEO, chief yaya and alalay, driver, wardrobe dictator, security specialist a.k.a. bodyguard, meal planner …. my job description goes on and on … for my child.

Gosh! Do our children realize how lucky they are?