A TALE OF 2 MOTHERS...

DELIA LIM DE GUZMAN   

Delia Lim de Guzman is my mother, she is going to be 76 years old this year, and all through out those 76 years, she has tried her best to be my mother....not just the biological type,  but one who took very good care of me. Everything that I was before I got married and had kids, I owe her, and I got it from her...and to a certain extent...even now my movements and my manner of speaking, I owe a lot of it to her.  

She was the one who wanted me to study at St. Jude Catholic School (SJCS), even struggled with my father, to make sure I continued to study at SJCS...it was also her, together now with my father who sent me to the University of The Philippines to become a Pharmacist......it was also through her diligence and thriftiness that I was able to finish Medicine at UERMMMC....

She was the one who introduced me to the wonderful world of reading......she bought me, and read to me the Lady Bird Books about Fairy Tales, and all those DC Comic Books of Batman and Superman....until I became a voracious reader myself ,and then she introduced me to Perry Mason Books by Erle Stanley Gardner.   I also remember vividly watching all those American shows with her.....The Six  Million Dollar Man, Hawaii Five-0, Wild Wild West, Starsky and Hutch and reruns of The Saint with Roger Moore and The Man From UNCLE. 

In a world now, full of computer games, some quite violent and silly, my mom introduced me to Scrabble, and we spent a lot of time playing that.

She was also my first teacher, and continued to tutor me, through my elementary years.....By the way my mom was a Valedictorian...so really, I had the best tutor! ......

Through out my life, you can see my mom's influence.....My mom  wold never go out wearing a duster or slippers...she wouldn't go out wearing clothes that are supposed to be worn at home....she made sure that it was clear to all of us, that certain clothes were to be worn at home only, and a different set of clothes for going out....it didn't matter that she was going to the "wet market", she would still be dressed well and made-up just right, never over-the-top....but her hair would be done, that not a strand of hair would be out of place.....sound familiar?

We were never rich, but she always told us, that being rich was not a prerequisite to looking proper, being clean, smelling good, reading books, being respectful, being honest, being decent, having manners.

My mom never nagged my dad, she never quarreled with him, she was a martyr and she realized early on, before famous quotations came out, "That if you love your children, love your spouse first."

My mom never yelled at me, she never insulted me, she never berated me in public or in our home, and she never spanked me or hit me. My mom never swears or curses, by the way, in Tagalog, in Bicolano, or in English.

My mother is not as strong as she used to be....., but she tries her best to go to Mass with us every Sunday.....she forgets a lot of things now, she has become too sensitive at  times.....but through it all....she has remained to be my mother....always concerned about me, about my health, about my general well-being.
I can continue to heap praises on her, tell you more about how great a mother she is...but he best way to do that...the most convincing way to do that....is to be a living testimony of her teachings and her training.....and this I will aspire to do each day of my life.

My mother may not be perfect....but she is the perfect mother for me.....nobody could've done a better job and I love her so much! 

I hope and I pray that the Good Lord blesses her with more strength and more fortitude...to continue being the best mother of all!


DINAH DIZON DE GUZMAN    

Dinah is my wife, and she is the mother of Mary Nicole, Thomas Niccolo and Charlize Nicolette.

She has sacrificed a lot for our children.....A budding career as a singer or as an actress....and staying in our house despite the continuing stress and the anxiety....and continuing to love me, despite my being me...all these she does for our children!

Unlike many, even if she has no Chinese blood, she has also insisted that our children study in a Chinese school, because she realizes how crucial it will be in the very near future. Although, at that time, still not a Catholic, she has also seen it fit that our children be enrolled in Catholic School...She wakes up very early each morning to take care of everything the kids need, then together, we bring the kids to school. Then we go home and she prepares lunch for everybody.....then we pick-up Lizzie from school and bring lunch to Nicole and Niccolo.....then either I or she picks them up from school in the afternoon.....she then checks their bags and their assignments....and proceeds to prepare dinner....then we bond, the whole family, to watch a movie, or just to talk about our days...and she listens to all of us and just absorbs everything.

When she had that bone mass in her thigh several years ago.....she did not want to undergo surgery during school days.....she wanted to wait until vacation, because she wanted to continue taking care of the kids.....she was really having a hard time walking then, but she insisted that we wait until vacation time. When she was about to be operated on for the mass, these were her words to me...."Don't let them cut-off my thighs because I don't want to be a burden to you and the kids...and I don't want to die because I know that you and the kids need me."....right before her surgery, she was thinking of our kids and of me.

She now works as a part-time commercial model, part-time only, because she remains to be a full-time mother, not in words in only, but in actions as well.  Her journey as a  mother has not been that long yet, but she has performed with a precision and persistence that could only have come from years of pain and sacrifice....and all these experiences, she uses to raise our kids well.

Dinah may not be perfect, but my children couldn't ask for a better mother and I could never ask for a better wife!

I pray that God blesses her with more patience and more love to continue loving us and being the perfect mother to my children!



To all the mothers out there...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  
God bless my Mother-in-law! God bless my sisters-in-law. God bless my cousins! God bless my FB friends!  
God bless all mothers....if the youth is the hope of tomorrow...then you have the enviable task of training tomorrow's hope and chances for a better world.

I'd like to make special mention of a mother....her children and I have missed so much.....To Mama Sally....you are one of the best mothers I've known......your sacrifices have bore fruit! God bless you always! We love you!