Happy 76th Birthday Mama! May You Always Be Healthy, Happy, and Bubbly

Wishing mama a happy 76th birthday today, October 16 🎂🎈 I figured, it's easiest to compose a birthday blog for other people than for parents haha! 

It's too overwhelming to really write a personal letter to parents. Although back in college I used to write them wistful letters (to increase my allowance 😂) I haven't written one since out of the university.

When I was still in school, I used to send them hallmark cards on almost every occasion lol! Today, I hardly visit a bookstore. So I just make this very short. I am looking for a good poem because quotes are too redundant haha! I am really out of words 😂 

It can sometimes be daunting to find the right words to let our parents know just how much they mean to us and summarizing every amazing thing they've done for us seems not just enough. One of mama's best qualities I could think of, is her overwhelming patience.

I could not recall her being impatient or monstrous to us while growing up. Until now, she is always tolerating and hardly explodes in anger. She always chose to be happy amidst many challenges. Just like papa, she rarely asked for money from us. 

So what should be the perfect words to say to her? I could not even compose one hahaha. So I will just borrow this heartwarming poem from American Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) for his mother. Whittier was a curious figure during his time and wrote moral poems on domestic themes.

"A Tribute to Mother", is a nostalgic short poem in which Whittier remembers the time he was still a child and seated at his mother's knee. His mother was gentle but firm. The values instilled in him from a young age by his mother – probably also had a hand in making him the poet he became. So this is fitting to say to my mother on her birthday. 

Mama at Marihatag Tree Park (a beach resort in our place) in June this year, 2022

A Tribute to Mother by John Greenleaf Whittier

A picture memory brings to me;
I look across the years and see
Myself beside my mother’s knee.
I feel her gentle hand restrain
My selfish moods, and know again
A child’s blind sense of wrong and pain.
But wiser now, a woman has grown,
My childhood needs are better known.
My mother’s chastening love I own.

Virtual talk with mama today to greet her a happy birthday!

It's been nine years since I've seen mama. I haven't returned to Surigao since coming to Manila in 2013. But we talked almost every day. Mama is 76 now but it feels like she's still in her 50s. Always energetic and bubbly, she has not lost her vigor. And she is always a happy person. Her laughter is contagious. 

Mama's celebration at home in Surigao with Mama Inday and Papa Pediong 💕

Family at home 😀

Happy birthday to you mother dear and many wonderful returns of the day. May your light continue to guide us all toward a happy life as it always did. No matter how old you become, you’ll always be the same beautiful amazing lady in my eyes.

Mama's celebration at home. Photos shared by my sister in law

Papa with one of his apos 😀

May God continue to bless you with a happy heart, a healthy mind, and a body, with great vitality and vigorous energy to go on with life. Wishing you the happiest of birthdays mama dear. 

My sister making a happy birthday toast for mama 😂

My sister and I (because we're miles away from our family) also marked our mother's birthday today with a small preparation to make a happy birthday toast for mama's long life and health 😊

Papa and Mama always together!

Papa and Mama celebrating their wedding anniversary in June this year!

Thank you for your infinite patience and for always taking care of us in a way that no one else ever could. I love you eternally! 💓

Our youngest on his birthday, October 6, with mama 😊

Would like to greet also our youngest brother a belated happy birthday on October 6, 2022. He's making tampo because we haven't posted anything on his birthday lol!