Caroleen’s Treasures

Early morning when no one in the house has taken a bath yet, they stayed longer in bed staring at a large picture frame.

Ella found my mother’s picture and for days she kept it close to her.

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….we tied the knot at Uyanguren Church of Christ, Davao City.  Like all couples, it was one of the most momentous event in our lives.

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Our day went pretty well except for a little stress in my part as a stage mother. Tomorrow and Friday will be Ella’s final examinations for the first semester and I am quite horrified what mark she would have in her report card at the end of this semester. I have given to Donald the duty of reviewing her on her lessons since I got a very short patience and as a choleric person, I want her to get right away what we are studying about. But I promise to myself I work on this one; I am trying to level myself with my 5-year-old. I called her after I made the reviewers and we studied peacefully but as minutes passed by, I began to feel I need to turn this over to Donald.   Read more… »

I am doing this very quick because they called for back up for OHJ early. Today I had my very first breakfast since we moved here. Ella played almost whole day with a short nap. When I woke up, she was not in bed anymore and was busily drawing in her desk.

Ella is missing Mamang Eling more and more each day and she always talks about the things they did together and she remembers every details. She asked me to post some of their photos together so my friends who has “Caroleen’s PRESSURES” can see it. Though I told her it is not pressures but TREASURES…she just grins and continue on her pressures. )

Manang Eling and Ella when she was two months old 

Chubby Ella at 4 months old

During our visit to our hometown, Ella was 15 months old 

Mamang visits her in the city at 18 months old

Kadayawan Festival 2005; Ella is 26 months old

There are pictures of them that I haven’t scanned yet and some are still negatives. Ella was turning three when Mamang died, only 9 days before her 3rd birthday. Hope you enjoy the photos of my Mamang Eling and her little Ella.

Today is a little bit slow…Ella went playing again. She woke up smiling and in real good mood. Well we are used to it as she has no bad mornings since the world began I was in the house almost whole day.

We went out in the afternoon to get a mail in the post. We are about to leave the house when Ella noticed my orchids. The leaves are green when I bought it and now are all so yellow. They must be dying. “Mommy you said there is an orange, a pink, a red and a yellow…but see all of them are now yellow!” Oh my! Of all things she should have noticed it was the wilting orchids I bought last Saturday. Surely the vendor says it has this color and that…and Ella heard all of the conversation at the market when I bought it…and I was just so amazed at how she remembers the colors and complains about having just a yellow color. I explained “The colors are for the flowers…not for the leaves.”

Whe we are on our way, we passed by a little pond and Ella asked if she can swim there As we arrived into the curb, we saw the mailman whom we suppose was looking for the recipient of a mail and asked if we knew a LEE here…and we said “Oh yes, we are Lee’s” and the mailman was surprised and we all laughed. He handed us a little package for Ella and my Smart Bro bill. We are lucky that there’s a cab waiting for us so we packed ourselves in there to the market. While we are a few yards away, we looked back to see Bogart (Ella’s dog) was still on the road looking at us. I was worried that he will follow us there and kept telling Donald that we need to stop and send Bogart home first. But Ella then assured me, “Mommy, he won’t go to the market with us. He is just making sure we are going in the right direction” I asked why and she answered, “Because he is not allowed there.” I said, “Oh really? How did he know?” Ella answered “Because he read it there in the market when he first went there…Dogs are not allowed here in the market.”

At home before the dark sets in, Ella was writing a letter which I am not sure for whom. While I was here on my pc, she came in the room and pretended reading the letter….It was a letter from Mamang Eling (my mom) written for her….here’s what I overheard:

Dear Neng,

How are you? I hope you are happy on your birthday. I went to a mountain and wanted to buy you a lollipop for your birthday but I have no money to pay for it. I missed you so much. Can I borrow you from your mommy? So we can talk here in the mountain and you and Papang Lakay (my dad) can talk too. You have not seen each other for a long time and he missed you so much.

Neng, please listen to my daughter, your mommy, so you will be a good child. You study well and be good always.

I love you Neng. I missed you so much!

Love,
Mamang Eling

I was laughing while typing what she was saying…as if she was reading a true letter from my Mom. Even the tones are much like Mamang Eling!