Drunk in love

The little big man, who's a big boy now, has been going through a lot of changes over the past year. I guess what I'm about to share is one milestone and deserves a detailed story-telling.

Cousins from Bataan were over at the brother's house last Monday. As expected, brother and cousins went drinking, as they usually do when they get together.

I let the big boy Migo join the younger cousins. I went to bed early only to be woken up by the brother and nephew, carrying my big boy into the bedroom, drunk.

He was saying all kinds of things, blabbering actually. I made sure I took a video of him so I could later show it to him and make him realize how stupid he looked drunk, in effect, make him NOT drink anymore in the future.

Some random blabber:

M: pakisabi sa syota ko...

Tyrone: wag mo sabihn syota kase ibig sabihn nun short time.
M: ok pakisabi sa lota ko... lota... long time 😁

M: mahal na mahal ko mommy ko. Gusto ko pakita sa kanya na naaappreciate ko mga paghihirap nya.

M: (to Tyrone who had him in his arms) don't rape me!

To wit, all of these are recorded in a secret file in my phone. For future reference. Someday. 😉

of dishonesty and bullies

The little girl the other day showed me a crumpled 500 peso bill with wrapped around a bottle of liniment. She said she found it inside her schoolbag. Of course, she knows it's not hers because I don't give her that amount of money for school.

So I told her the most logical thing to do. Give it back. Go see her school's principal and return it to her.

The next day, she got bullied by one of the boys in her class. She said she was walking from the front of the class towards her seat when this boy punched her in the stomach. She curled in pain and cried. When the teacher was told, the teacher's reaction was that the next time the boy punches her, his parents will be called to school.

When told of this, I was furious. But my Mom, (the Grandma) who was told first before me, was even more furious and decided that she will personally go to school and report this incident. It was fine with me since my work nowadays demands that I be at the office always.

Later in the evening, my Mom told me about how she lectured the Discipline Officer in school about bullying. It was a little funny because knowing my Mom, I'm sure they heard a handful of her wisdom. She'd made her mark on the school officials, I must say, esp that officer and the Principal.

The little girl later told me she returned the money and liniment bottle to the principal. The principal told her, "You're honest huh. Ang laking pera nito at ibinalik mo." Then she left.

Much later, the principal went to her class and asked for her and told her, "I forgot to tell you, very good for what you did."

Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat people. 

~ Dennis Prager

loss

three days ago.

this story is supposed to be about my two kids'  taekwondo tournament but it's gonna segue into a totally different, devastating story.  that is a forewarning.

it was the bulacan taekwondo championships held in marilao convention center in, where else, bulacan.  the kids were psyched for another fight and so were hubby and me.  i can say that we live for days like these.  it just makes us plain happy.

little girl was sent to the mats early and won her first game without a sweat.  (that's me, the mom, talking.)  second game was a breeze.  (again, proud mom moment.)  

her finals match was unexpected.  she was up against an older girl but with the same height, the younger sister of a veteran champ in clraa (central luzon ahtletic association or something) and although wearing a white belt, we expect has been training way longer than my little girl.  little girl overwhelmingly lost her finals match.  and her tears of furstration and hurt were overwhelming as well.  i consoled her of course that it was not something to be ashamed of and that we're all still proud of her.

...ooOoo...

little big man's first game was a breeze too.  then finals match was definitely not hard but sadly, he lost by 1 point.  he was disappointed of course, being hungry for another gold again but i guess, luck wasn't on his side.... yet.  coach told hubby that the little big man already has everything -- skills, form, speed -- we just have to be a little more patient and we will harvest soon. this guy's time will come.  i've said this time and time again, everytime he loses, because i strongly believe so.

...ooOoo...

towards late afternoon, the intense games of the kids' high school teammates got us all worked up and cheering on the sides.  it became an opportunity for some nitwit to steal my handbag which i left on a chair together with our team's bags and equipment.  the thief singled out my bag because i left our low bat iPad®  inside.  he must've been around already since morning, checking out who would be neglectful of their belongings, and i turned out to be the unknowing victim.

when i found my chair without my bag, i told the hubby and we informed coach who announced it over the microphone to please be mindful of belongings since a parent (me!!) lost her bag.  a little while later, coach's wife when she found out, told us she noticed an abandoned bag inside one of the stinky toilets.  and there it was.  my ransacked bag without the iPad and my wallet.

three lessons in losing today:

1)  the little girl's loss tells me that despite doing your best, if the other person who beat you is way ahead of you, you have to accept.  but you better train harder so you will be as good as her, if not better.

2)  the little big man's loss tells me that being the winner is not a one-time thing.  the process of getting there, overcoming obstacles, learning and maturing marks the true champion.  his time will come.

3)  and what did i learn from my loss?  never leave your personal belongings unattended.  God bless that nitwit thief.  and God bless me more.

“Winning or losing achieves the same result-- change.” 

― Shannon L. Alder

parts of the head

the little girl and i were reviewing parts of the head over the weekend for a quiz this week:

me (pointing at her hair):  What's this? 

little girl: Hair.

me (pointing at her forehead): What's this? 

little girl (full of conviction): Third eye.

a lesson in defeat

victory is sweetest when you've known defeat. - malcolm forbes

migo brought home a bronze medal yesterday from another tkd tournament.  he should be happy.  out of 12 tournaments that he has participated in, he already won 3 bronzes, 2 silvers and 4 golds.  that's all in the past 13 months that he's been into the sport.  that's more than anyone who started the same time as he.  and at his young age of 7, that should be a feat.

but as soon as the referee raised his hand indicating the win of his opponent, migo's eyes welled up in tears as he headed out of the court, towards my outstretched arms.  he cried and cried for a good ten minutes, i think.  me and his dad and his coach and his tito benedict, together with his teammates comforted him, patted him on the back, gave him words of encouragement and did everything we could to console him.  you still got a bronze, anak!  don't cry!

it wasn't really a fair fight if you look at it.  but who said life, or this sport, is fair, right?  he won his first 2 fights for the day and we were already looking forward to the finals.  then we found out that he needed to win a semi-finals round with a group 2 opponent.  (migo is in group 1.  group 1's height is 120-128cm.  group 2's height is 128-136cm.)  i became a little anxious but knowing my migo, that he is never  fazed by any size opponent, i relaxed a bit and waited for his call.  it turned out the kid matched to him was about 5-6cm taller, 3 years older and although was a yellow belt, had been training years before migo even started.  but migo put up a good fight, with a 5-8 final score, with some points by  migo not counted.  i have the video!  i can prove they didn't count at least 3 points in round 1!  to me, it was a tied match but then again, that's me, i'm his mom.

in the end, it was a lesson learned, not only for migo but for me and hubby as well.  that we cannot always win.  that at some point in life, we will lose.  that losing doesn't make us any less, but makes us better people.  that we now know how those we defeated before felt.  that it's okay.  that life moves on.  and that there are more things to be thankful for.  that prayers sometimes go unanswered because God must have another thing planned out for us.  that a bronze is better than none. 

my migo became a matured athlete yesterday.  i'm still a mighty proud mom.

"Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."

                                                                                               -Barack Obama