The Insightful Path

First of all, I’d like to greet everyone a Happy Labor Day since it is almost May 1 st , Philippines’ National Labor Day celebration!  It will be a non-working but busy day for activists and labor groups but for some non-partisans, it could be the start of a long weekend so regardless of where you in the spectrum; this day is sure to be a memorable one!  I would like to digress though and create my own LaborDay celebration because it being a day for workers is obviously already commemorated. I would like to re-declare today as National #LaborDay and share my Labor Day story...after all, not one is ever the same, ask your mothers! ;-) It is also very timely since Mother’s Day is just around the corner!  It was on November 15 th 2011 when my LaborDay story started... (cue nostalgic music..) I had gone to my routine pre-natal check-up and all was well, after all, my expected due date was not until the 28 th . After my check-up, I went to Robin...

For almost 3 weeks now, the hardest part of being a working mom has been leaving me totally wrecked. Every weekday for almost 3 weeks now, I am this cruel and heatless mother leaving my 3-year old son to the care of my father-in-law and every day is a heartbreaking, tear-jerking (for me, but overflowing and totally dramatic for my son) and painful moment that it makes me curse my job every time I get on the motorcycle and ignore the painful screams and begging hoping to come to work fully-functional…. “Dili ko bilin lolo ma ha, dili ko bilin lolo ma.” (“Don’t leave me with grandpa ma.”) I wake up at 4am to cook my breakfast and lunch for work and prepare my son’s things for when he is sent to my father-in-laws house and at past 5am, when I have to wake my son up or he wakes up screaming because no one is beside him anymore, those are always his first words to me. Not a “good morning”, not even a “hello” but instead mostly teary-eyed pleading not to be left with his g...