I sit here in my office right now, typing this piece and thinking of my son Wolf. In about 45 minutes an EVA airplane at NAIA will be taking him back to America. What can I say? Having my son home for 12 days was a joy for me, but getting prepared for his first homecoming was pure ecstasy!!!
Here’s a note of warning to all of you who like to surprise your loved ones by showing up at their doorstep unannounced: please, don’t do it! You will rob your loved ones of the happiness involved in getting ready for your visit. Assuming that they love your company of course, LOL!
My son Wolf was plotting something like that to shock me – but my Nanay-senses were too sharp and I got wind of it really fast from a little bird whose name I will withhold in the name of personal safety.
So I called Wolf up and asked him straight if was coming home. It was easy to get him to tell the truth – I just said: “Sweetie, the aircon is busted so if you want it fixed, you better tell me or else you’ll be sleeping in a hot room!”
He spilled the beans REALLY quickly after that and I got what I wanted: a month to prepare for his first visit home after he left the nest a year and a half ago.
I don’t know about other Moms but I find so much happiness in preparing for my kids – even if they are now bigger than me.
First thing I worked on – the aforementioned aircon. When it comes to comfort THAT is the MOST important thing in my book – I can sleep on a banig on the floor in a cold room but the plushest bed is nothing without AC!
Then I got him some new curtains, a new mattress, had the Ondoy-ravaged bed repaired by a carpenter, shampooed the rug, cleaned up the room, made space for his luggage and clothes and put out his Pokemon pin and card collection.
Found his pa-cool-na-pa-cute photo taken when he graduated from college (UST) and put it in a Hollywood-themed frame for his desk. Then I bought him one of his favorite goodies: Oreos from Japan which I put on his bed. Had an emo-looking balloon bouquet created for him; they are better than flowers – they last beyond a month! But then again when the balloons are dead they become an environmental hazard. Ugh, you just can’t have it all, can you…?
The day before Wolf arrived, Ron, Diandra and I toiled away for half a day in the dining room designing, with pentel pens and cartolina, a Welcome Home Sign – this is a tradition for the Titular Family to ALWAYS put up an intricately-designed welcome sign whenever someone comes back from a trip abroad. Because it’s tradition, it’ s really never a surprise but I raised my family well and they all know how to ‘act surprised’ when they see their welcome signs after a long trip home.
As Gandalf said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” And with that in mind, I decided that the ONE THING I HAD TO DO while Wolf was in town was set up the Christmas tree and take family pictures! October is actually an okay time to put up a Christmas tree in the Philippines since Christmas here starts in September when the SM chain of malls begins to play Christmas carols. I kid you not!
Another Titular tradition we have is assigning special Christmas ornaments each year to every member of the family. So you can imagine just how eclectic our tree looks like with all these different ornaments we’ve amassed over the years!
Sad to say, Wolf won’t be in Manila on December 25 this year – it will mark his 2nd time to spend Christmas away from us – but thanks to the wonder known as Skype, he will be able to join in the fun and watch us tear open our gifts!
And thanks to the other wonder known as Amazon dot com, he won’t be left out in the gift-recieving department! He’ll get all his goodies wrapped and delivered to his doorstep, without me breaking a sweat!
Well, I am going to miss my baby… but not for long – he’s promising to come back home next year, perhaps in January 2011. That means December 2010 will be extra special with preparations for the RETURN OF THE WOLF!
Pure ecstasy for this MOM!!!
it was great to see you while you were in Manila, Wolf!!! I’m gonna say it again…my gosh…you’re so…grown up! (eeeeeek! I just sounded like a true blue tita right there!) anyway, it’ll just be a few months til your back so, see you then!
– tita josie
You’re a very sweet mom. Your kids and husband are luck to have you and I know your lucky to have them too. Very inspiring ma’am. God bless to all of you.
hi wolf! glad you got to spend a couple of weeks in manila. sorry i missed you because i was in china for a week. would’ve really wanted to reconnect.
where are you at now? around march next year, my family and i plan to visit pastor neil in san francisco. not sure if you’re somewhere near.
but at any rate, i pray for an awesome rest of the year and an exciting 2011 for you. blessings always. – your forever kids church teacher. 🙂
hey wolf! nice to see you on SMX last Sunday. hope we can cosplay soon! update me on cons on the U.S! haha!
take care! share Jesus through word and deed. God bless…
Wolf, I hate saying goodbye, though I’ve done it for so many times ….I just can’t get used to it. So, Bon Voyage and bring with you love and care from your family and friends 🙂 I miss buying noodles for you . . .
I cried reading this. I miss you guys so much! And I’m so happy for you! Grabe, they’re – Dian, Wolfie, and KB – are all so grown up na. I remember when we lived next door together in Marikina how much fun we all had being a few steps away from each others’ homes!
Oh pag-uwi namin hopefully next year, yung sign namin ha. LOL.
Love you heaps.
hi wolf! glad to hear you were home for a while. too bad we didn’t get to catch up though…hope that your flight back home went smooth! take care! ~ tita elinore (and the husband)
tita joey!!!!! i miss us being neighbors toooo!!! we will make BONGGA signs for you and KB! one each pa! hahaha :))
OWIE–> hello TITA owie!!! hiihihihihi
had mixed emotions reading this ms joyce.
had fun, sniffed a little and giggled a lot.
haven’t met wolf but heard about it from s’ron.
God bless your family!
Awwww… thanks much, mwahhhh
Wolf reminds me of Jose Rizal living abroad away from his parents and loved ones. I know how great it is for you Ms. Joyce to miss Wolf but the thought of his next Homecoming is indeed, a pure ecstacy!!! Compared to Rizal’s time of the old traditional correspondence through letters without electronics and to our techy and digital age, you will still feel near to him because of online chatting and the like! But still, the magic of personal contact and talking face to face is the best!
All I can say is, I congratulate WOLF for having such a “BEAUTY QUEEN NANAY”, with a BIG HEART and SO FRIENDLY. ONE OF THE BEST MOMS IN THE WORLD:-)
Wow, I wonder how it was like in the old days when it would take weeks and months before you heard from someone abroad. I’m sure it had it’s own benefits compared to today’s email. For example – the art of writing was well observed. People took it seriously from grammar to punctuation marks. And then there was the art of good penmanship. Wow, those were the days indeed! Thanks for your comment Ave, warm warm hugs to you!