Blog : the calendar girl...

Blogs > virgo0969 > Home Is Where My Heart Is

358 posts
5/27/2008 8:22 pm

Last Read:
5/10/2011 9:44 pm

the calendar girl...

...this was one of my earliest entries and i'm posting this again as my Mom, to whom i wrote this for, celebrates her 74th birthday today.

she stands 5'4" and weighs 125 lbs. she has brown eyes, brown skin, and straight salt and pepper hair. she loves ripe mango and kare kare. she makes good coconut oil and you will always love her suman. she is a great fan of local actors sharon cuneta and ariel rivera, and at one point adores geneva cruz (during her smokey mountain days). she has seven , six grandchildren and she is...74! friends, allow me to introduce to you the CALENDAR GIRL... my MOM!

i have always called my mother the calendar girl. no, she's neither a former beauty queen nor did she aspire for one during her prime. I call her the calendar girl because of her unique hobby of collecting calendars.

i grew up seeing my mother collecting at least a dozen calendars every yuletide season and adorns our house with them. my siblings would not mind it at all but this most outspoken of her would always ask, "why do you have to collect many calendars? they only give you one and same information!" without batting an eyelash she would tell me, "this one shows when the full moon is, that one tells me exactly when is ash wednesday, and that other one has different scenic spots with each corresponding descriptions. too pretty to toss it away. besides, the people who gave them spent their hard earned money on them."

her reasons would always make me raise my eyebrows but i would not say anything. but believe me, if looks could kill, the calendars would have been dead on their very first day. they would always suffer from my silent criticisms. there were times when i would secretly take two or three of them off the wall and my mother would always know who the culprit was. "why can't you leave them alone?" she would ask me.

i can still vividly remember one time when i noticed a four year old calendar (with jesus of nazarene on the top page) still on the dining room door. turning the pages of the calendar, i unconsciously said, "hmm... my birthday was a friday four years ago." i was surprised when my mother, suddenly came out of the kitchen still holding a ladle, smilingly said, "you see, if it was not for my calendar, you would not know it."

i don't know what's wrong with me but i have always been bothered by those calendars. maybe because i was old enough to know that it would be nicer should we hang catchy wall frames or pretty curtains instead. but what has been keeping me wondering all these years is no matter how simple a calendar is, my mother would always see and appreciate it's worth.

i am very outspoken --- i can be one's best and worst critic at the same time--- but i admit that this unusual hobby of my mother makes me a tongue tied critic. i maybe bitchy sometimes but i could not be that heartless to take that simple happiness she gets from those calendars. i know i would always find it strange ---her love for calendars---but i think it is one of those simple reasons why i love her more. yes, you don't need to give her expensive christmas gifts to please her!

my mom has always been an understanding, nurturing, and caring mother. i really love her and I will forever be proud to be her . she is my one and only unique MOM...and she will always be my CALENDAR GIRL.

Happy bday, Mom!

Donald_Hoppy
(maryidohl m) 78M