White hair chronicles XXVIII - Wonder Nanay @ 70

Our Nanay Eliz turned 70 last July 2. To celebrate the milestone, we invited some of her friends and classmates for lunch at the house that fried chicken built last July 3. In a short program that followed, my sister asked our mom's friends to say a few words about the birthday girl. There were several classmates and a teacher from their elementary school days in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro. Her classmates talked about the simple life back then when they graduated in 1956. One recounted that their daily allowance then was 'dalawang pera', which bought them 10 guavas and 2 slices of coconut candy that they shared among themselves. My niece cannot grasp the concept of the pera, she asked if it meant a peso. She gasped when told that it meant two cents (centavos). Throughout their reminiscing, they all had very good words about our mother.

After my mom's classmates, I was asked to speak in behalf of my siblings. I had to remind the guests I am not from their school batch for I could have passed off as one with my white hair and gait. I told them about our Nanay Eliz is truly a Wonder Mom. It is not easy being a mother of nine and a wife to our father. But our mother does it excellently with nary a complaint.

Her friends had equally good words for her as friend, mentor, and bingo buddy. Everyone of the 80 or so in attendance could have gone on all afternoon and all would have heaped praises on her. Perhaps to cap all the accolades, the senior citizen's office coordinator announced that nanay will receive an outstanding senior citizen award next month. What a fitting tribute to the finest lady one can ever know.