A vacation with Mama

Part of a series on our moms—or about being a mom—for Mother's Day


My stomach sank upon seeing the forecast for Typhoon Dodong on Friday night at home.

Mama was finishing the laundry after having packed her things in the afternoon, including a new sweater for our 3-day vacation in Baguio, but it looked like we would be needing raincoats for our trip.

"So pa'no?" my sister asked over the phone.

"Hindi ko talaga alam."

"Hindi naman yata babagyuhin ang Baguio," my sister said, hoping against hope.

I wanted to agree—I already paid for our hotel and bought tickets weeks ago. But my experience covering typhoons held me back. We needed to make sure. So I asked her: "Makakadaan ka ba sa I M Ready?"

From the Entertainment Department, my sister went to the Newsroom to consult on our dilemma.

When my sister got home, she told us, to my mom's disappointment, that we should not go.

My sister got a job last year as a production assistant for some of our favorite Kapuso entertainment shows while I have been working as a reporter since 2007.  Our erratic work schedule leaves Mama alone at home most of the time, especially on weekends when she does not have office work.  She and Papa parted ways when I was in college. We badly needed this vacation, or at least some time away from the house for an entire "mother's weekend" with no household chores to lure Mama into routine and exhaustion.

Given our predicament, I turned to my boyfriend, who is a divemaster, if we could hitch a ride with him to Batangas for the weekend since he was going there anyway.  At six in the morning on Saturday, he was at the parking area of the condominium, opening the car door for my mom.

During a stopover, my boyfriend expressed his concern about managing Mama's expectations of our vacation. Where we were headed had nowhere near the beauty of Boracay or Pagudpud.  It is an inexpensive resort that caters mostly to divers, a takeoff point to the most splendid dive sites in Batangas.

I also had the same concern, but I was pretty confident that what Anilao had to offer would never fail my mom.  Our plan was to have my mom experience diving, then take a boat to a dive site where Mama could feed fish while underwater. Mama was excited.

When we got to Anilao Camper Resort, we were led to our cozy nipa hut. It has three beds. The ventilation was perfect for an early afternoon siesta. Mama was delighted and I was glad.

As soon as we got our stuff settled, we took my mom to a well-recommended eatery at Anilao Pier for some sumptuous bulalo. I'm a vegetarian, but I really wanted Mama to experience the specialty of Batangas.

Since I became a vegetarian, Mama has stopped cooking hardcore meat dishes like bulalo, which used to be my favorite. She has found ways to turn the most boring vegetables into the most delectable dishes even though she is not used to it, having grown up in the kitchen of my Kapampangan grandmother. Her weekly trip to the market became a trip taken every two or three days so that the vegetables wouldn't deteriorate. This is one of the many sacrifices Mama has made for me. If I ponder about how many meals my mom has cooked for me since I started eating solid food, it is overwhelming. I'm now 28, and if we set the number of meals per day to a conservative three, just imagine how many dishes my mom has already prepared for me.

While at the pier, Mama shopped for a souvenir shirt. She also haggled for bananas that were being sold at P90 a kilo! She thought we would be needing bananas for potassium since we would be swimming.

We went for a dip in the beach late in the afternoon. We brought diving equipment to introduce my mom and my sister to diving, but Mama did not want to and I was surprised. I had her put on a mask, gave her the regulator and instructed her to breathe through her mouth, but she said she couldn't breathe and she did not want to try diving.

On Sunday, she spent the entire Mother's Day playing games on her tablet in the resort's canteen, talking to people and other mothers who were there. She said she did not want to go the beach because her freckles appear in the sun. When she got hungry she ordered food and ate with us. I was worried that she was not enjoying the vacation but she said she was having a great time and that she loved the food.  

I realized that all she really wanted was to spend quality time with her daughters. A bit of fun was just a bonus. At the end of the day, what matters is not how much you spend on your vacations but how much time you devote to your loved ones when you are needed. Many of us work like there is no tomorrow and put off our loved ones until the next day, yet quality time is free but very valuable. It could be a couple of hours before lights off or forty minutes during dinner. It is when we spend time with our loved ones that our efforts for material success become meaningful.

Let's spend time with our mothers every chance we get. Belated Happy Mother's Day.