City Inspired Epiphanies on Mother's Day
Mother's Day was spent in the city. I was never a city person unless the city had really nice scenic spots, I'd rather not spend a nice Sunday in the city. Of course I always associated living here in the city with work. So, it's a toxic area for me if I wanted to relax and let my mind breathe a little. But my mom was in an unusually gay mood and was coaxing me and my sister to go shopping with her at Greenhills. If this were book shopping, I wouldn't mind. But this was shopping through stalls and a sea of human bodies in the heat of a Philippine summer. But then again, it was mother's day, so I let down my usual finicky attitude about the discomforts of driving all the way to the north and decided to just enjoy. I went about teasing my sister on how I will shop for this and that. It always gives me a trip to see her pout and whine about how she can't afford it and cut me off so she doesn't crave for anything more. My mom on the other hand was more excited about buying her beads so she can make more bead jewelries and add them to the recent charm necklace I had made for her in Joyce Orena's shop. We left Greenhills after an hour and a half with me having bought 3 pieces of clothing and my sister...well...she ended up with none.
My mom wanted to pass by Greenbelt 3 and go to Joyce Orena's shop. My fascination for charms have rubbed off on both my sister and my mother recently that they decided to get new charm necklaces each. I, in my fascination for the whole process of choosing and designing my own charm necklace, bought one more. Which now means I have 3. Each having different meanings at the time I had them made. On our drive to and from the city, I couldn't help but look at the surroundings and remembered my family's trip to Europe 2 years ago. We toured cities on foot or by train and I marveled at the different architecture and the scenes of life that were so different from where I came from. Fragments of a world that spoke to me of one resounding thing...life is everywhere. The Philippine city scape is crowded. Some worn out buildings and other emerging new ones clutter in one cacophonic array by the long expanse of Edsa. Sometimes I frown at the clutter. But today was different, today I saw only life. That it was everwhere. And in the diversity of it, I knew that there were hearts pulsating behind every corner of the clutter, each trying to seek and make a better world.
(picture above, taken in Florence 2005)