THE SPIRAL SUN

When I grow up…

I want to be a mom. I really want to be a mom. Not just any mom, but a cool mom – like my mom. (See the picture above? That’s my kikay mom with her shawl, asking my brother to give her a drink. A diet coke) I want to drive my kids to school, drive them to piano lessons, dance lessons, soccer practice, sleepover parties, group meetings at their friends houses or to the mall. I’m going to wait for them at the mall – spend my time at the parlor (bwahaha! that is such a my-mom thing to do) or grocery or department store. Window shopping or real shopping. Going to the tiangge. Then lunch out with the girls (if my mom has lunch with tita Lag and tita Chiqui – i’m going to have lunch with Kaia and Anj and Bobs and Kaks and Ree and whoever else chooses to be a lady of leisure). And then we’re going to talk about our kids, our cabinet members (ate Cristy will still be with us. She’s got masters in home making) and our husbands. And of course elementary, high school and college memories. And then when the clock strikes 4, we’ll all stand up, make beso and pick up our kids. Our kids will be the same age – and we’ll make them be friends (like dre and mike and me!!!)! i can’t wait!!!

But of course there are a whole lot of other stuff that i want to be too (before I become a mom, that is). I want to work for the United Nations. I want to be part of the social development committee and travel around the world, and talk to people about equality, neocolonialism and world peace. I always visit the website and check out the job openings. Did you know that they employ people and categorize them according to what nation they come from? So there are big chances of being hired if your country is not represented (as well as others). The Philippines is overly represented. Go figure. If i don’t get accepted there, I want to work for National Geographic or the Discovery Channel. I’ll take pictures, stay with different tribes, immerse in different cultures, make documentaries of my different ethnographies, learn 100 languages, make use of everything I learned from Dr. Z’s cultural heritage classes and become a cool Ross Geller. I will be an anthropologist extraordinair. Or I could be an Urban Planner and make Dr. Porio proud. I’ll show her what I learned about social space and apply it here in Metro Manila. I could replace Bayani (and the hot pink urinals – then again, if you can’t change the culture, curb it with some sort of structure).

Then, when the time comes, I’ll be a mom – like my mom. And wear a hot pink shawl.