♫ "I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I'm living, my mother you'll be."♫






So goes the song that my seven-year old daughter sung to me one day when she came home from school.  From that day on, she will sing that song to me every night.  She even required me to sing it along with her but I had to use the word "baby" instead of mother.

She sings that song to me as well when I'm sad.  She even uses it to make amends after being scolded.  But the same song is always at its best at nighttime when we do our duet and she closes her eyes and holds my hand, always on cue after the last note is sung.

My daughter's lullaby, though obviously borrowed from something learned in school, is something that I will always look back to and treasure.  It has been voluntarily offered without being asked and without asking anything in return, except perhaps for listening and appreciating.  Will she sing that song to me 10, 20 or 30 years from now?  I hope so.



My Say

There are moments that will stay in the memory of both parent and child, memories that are fairly simple yet meaningful.  Those that reside in the heart will never be forgotten.  They will live on even when one forgets along the way to provide a reminder of the way back.

That said, I will make sure to pack in good memories with my children as much as I can for I know it will be one of my greatest comfort in old age.  My daughter's simple lullaby will resound in my heart wherever fate brings her in the future.

The early management days of Ambos Mundos Restaurant was largely matriarchal in the sense that  women figured prominently in its leadership, operation , and direction.  They were extraordinary women in their own rights, all having strong personalities that will not bow down to male "domination".  It might not be a coincidence therefore that all of them never got married.

Leading the pack was Felisa de Leon.  To my recollection, she was the most quiet but she was the acknowledged "boss".  She was the one who turned over the main branch located at Estero Cegado in Quiapo to my father.

Following not far behind is her sister, Eulalia de Leon.  She had a very strong and outgoing personality.  She managed a separate branch in Quiapo.


Not to be outdone is Anacleta Gaudinez.  She always appeared to be the most aristocratic or "suplada", if you please, but I can attest that she was a very kind person.  She managed the branch in Ermita.

Eventually, another woman joined the group when my grandfather remarried.  Isabel Gaudinez also had an active role in the management of the Ermita branch. She can whip up culinary delights at the snap of a finger.

It is very interesting to note that those that came after them were all male - my father Jose and his brothers Luis, and Carlos.  Women however, remained visible in the management of Ambos Mundos Restaurant as their respective wives played active roles in it.

Image: Adrian van Leen

                                                                                

When I was young, I prayed for riches and luxury;
Now I pray to have what my family needs daily;

When I was young, I prayed for intelligence and beauty,
Now I pray for wisdom and health constantly;

When I was young, I prayed that my enemies be hit with sudden heavenly judgment,
Now I pray that they will not continue to hurt me through mutual enlightenment;

When I was young , I prayed to the Lord to take my life in difficult times,
Now I pray to the Lord to give me strength all the time;

When I was young, I prayed to the Lord for unending life in happy times,
Now I pray that my responsibilities and obligations are finished just in time; 

But most of all I pray that I serve my purpose for passing through this way,
That my life will have attained its full meaning and so I pray...


by: Teresa Martinez (adapio)

Image: Holy Nativity Convent

My Say

As we mature and gain more understanding of life, we gain the ability to remove the focus of our prayers from ourselves and what we want.  Answered prayer is not merely about getting what we want but rather what will be good for us.  Sometimes, answers are not readily evident and would take time to reveal themselves and the wisdom they bring.

That said, I pray that God will give me the capacity to accept and understand the answers that I will get for my prayers. 



                                   

I could still remember the dread whenever my teachers would ask for an essay to be written. More than the sentence construction and grammatical use which my teachers were probably looking out for when they gave out these tasks, the idea of what to write about usually escapes me.  If my memory serves me right, I often ended up with one paragraph which barely lifted from the introductory phase.

By some interesting choices, I ended up taking a course in college which required extensive research and therefore extensive writing as well.  I really don't know how I survived this but I did.  After graduation, I purposely looked for job positions that didn't require me to make any written compositions (i.e. letters, formal reports, and the like).

I did manage to escape writing but then fate does have a way of bringing us face-to-face with things that we would rather avoid.   When I had an operation, the recuperation period was quite long that I had no choice but to stay home.  Having two very young kids then, I had to find a way to be productive even while I was at home.

One day, I was browsing through some flyers distributed in the village where we used to stay.  One ad caught my eye because it was the only one that didn't require me to physically go out of the house.  Guess what?  The ad said someone was looking for several part-time writers and all I needed to do was email him if I was interested.  Extreme situations require extreme decisions right?  And so I applied.

I was requested to write a 1,000 word article about computer technology.  Now, if there was one thing I hated most writing about, it is this very same topic.  The reason is simple.  I practically knew nothing about it.  Almost instantaneously, I regretted my decision to apply.  Pride however will not allow me to give up that easily and so I did it, I submitted it, and got hired for it.

My Say

It has been more than seven years now since that fateful day when I discovered I could actually write. Recently, I gathered enough courage to write for myself thus the birth of this blog JUST PASSING THRU. Its start was tentative which would explain the big gaps between articles but I am now ready to make it a continuous effort.

That said, the accidental writer is now a writer who has discovered the joys of writing and loving every moment of it.

Image: degreedirectory.org

During our childhood days, whenever my siblings and I were brought to Ambos Mundos Restaurant in Estero Cegado in Quiapo by our parents,  there were only two designated places for us: near the cashier area when there are few customers or off to Shoemart (for window shopping only) which is just across the restaurant, when the restaurant is full-packed.  We weren't expected to do anything around the restaurant except to keep out of harm's way and allow the employees and our parents to do their work with the least of distractions.  In my mind as a child, everything was perfect.  We could eat what we wanted, whenever we wanted and even got a bonus prize sometimes for behaving well.

This pattern continued on up to our college days but abruptly changed when my father's long-standing bout with diabetes led to complications to his kidneys.  All too suddenly, there was no one to man the restaurant.  My mother had to be with my father, my two older siblings and I were employed then with different companies while my two younger siblings were still studying.  Our family had many able-bodied members but none of us were prepared to take on the responsibility of my father as the manager of the restaurant.

For a while during my father's recuperating period, my siblings and I took turns in manning the restaurant and tried to hold the fort while our "captain" tried to regain his strength.  After undergoing a series of dialysis sessions, my father finally mustered enough of the needed strength to come back and assess the situation for himself.  He decided that I was to resign from my job and take over, to be assisted by my younger brother after his school hours.  His reasoning then was that I had the least time investment with my employer as I was still fairly new, thus I had the least to lose in resigning.  By this time, we were already located in Pedro Paterno Street, also in Quiapo.



Now given our background with regards to the responsibility in Ambos Mundos Restaurant, you can forgive me if I thought I would be occupying the cashier's seat.  I could never be more mistaken.  Obviously, my father had other plans that day and the days and months to come.

After a short lecture of how important it is to know all the aspects of managing the restaurant, he finally gave the shocker.  He said, "Start cleaning the tables."  I was hearing him but apparently I was not comprehending very well as I remained unmoving.  It was only the stark seriousness of my father's face that finally bolted me back to reality and to motion.  And so my Ten Lessons consisted of the following:

Lesson Number One:  How to Wipe the Tables 
Lesson Number Two:  How to Wash the Dishes
Lesson Number Three: How to Clean the Dining Area
Lesson Number Four:  How to Market for the Ingredients
Lesson Number Five:  How to Receive Orders from Suppliers
Lesson Number Six:  How to Cook the Dishes
Lesson Number Seven:  How to Plate Orders
Lesson Number Eight:  How to Take Orders from Customers
Lesson Number Nine:  How to Check Orders from Waiters and Receive Payment from them
Lesson Number Ten:  How to Segregate Daily Earnings for Bills, Salaries and other Expenses

My Say

It was a big load of "how to's" to handle but it was a real crash course in restaurant management.  There were many other practical lessons along the way.  However, he would always emphasize true love for the business so that it would love you back, and I believe that much I absorbed.

That said, I thank my father for teaching me. The great effort, considering his frail health condition, is something which I will remember for the rest of my life.