Looking through our family albums one day, I happened to see one of my personal favorite photos of myself. In my eyes, I was especially beautiful in this photo regardless if I was obviously bloated, sans make-up, and with a red nose to boot. I believe I looked this way at least three times in my entire lifetime - yes, the three times when I was carrying a child in my tummy.

I successfully brought into this world three human beings - my children, after carrying each of them in my womb for nine months. My pregnancies were not without challenges but there are quite a few events in my life that could compare in the level of happiness and expectation. To say that I love my children is an understatement and I must admit that I had my share of boo-boos all done in the name of a mother's love.

The Third Degree Treatment

I literally gave my son-in-law the third degree treatment when he was courting my daughter. To say that I made life difficult for him is putting it lightly. As fate would have it, they eventually got married. Do I regret doing so? Not at the least because I knew that I successfully sent the message to him that he will answer to me if and when he hurts my daughter.

Fighting My Kid's Battles

I know I should let my children fight their own battles but sometimes it can be very hard to resist putting an especially nasty person in his place. My teenage son has a Facebook "friend" who regularly bullies him online (who needs enemies if you have friends like these?) One day while my son and I were side by side using the computer, I noticed my son typing intently as if angry. I couldn't help myself read what was on the computer screen and true enough his "friend" was again at it, this time spewing a mouthful of bad words for unknown reasons. Signaling my son to let me answer, I typed a very clear warning to his "friend" to stop or I'll copy all his abusive words and show it to school authorities. That effectively ended his bullying ways to my son.

The Shameless Fan

I am my children's shameless fan. I encourage (okay, sometimes force) them to participate in all sorts of productive school and community activities. I am more focused with my youngest who rarely volunteers. One seeming mistake that I did was to register her in an online children's course. We were literally fighting all the time because there was a schedule to follow  and she was obviously not up to it. I swore to myself I will never, ever enroll her in anything that she would not ask for. I was only able to redeem myself when I heard her say one day that she got a very high score in a school project because of the lessons she learned from that course. I chuckled and said to myself "Mother really knows best".

My Say

I won't claim to be a perfect mother. I've made the best and worst decisions simply because I am a mother. A mother cannot be unbiased when it comes to her own children because of the natural ties that bind. When my children are praised, the happiness I feel knows no bounds. When they are hurt, I feel the hurt many times over.

That said, let me ask understanding and forgiveness from my children during the times I went over and intruded in their privacy, questioned their choices, and used my authority to have my way. These instances were motivated by the instinct to protect rather than to rule as well as a mother's love that can sometimes be embarrassing but never dishonest.

Jollibee Perfect Nanay Video

Jollibee has prepared the "Perfect Nanay" video in time for the Mother's Day celebration on Sunday. This is especially touching because the actors are real life mom and son and the situations shown  are very relatable to almost, if not all Filipino families. Just like me, this mother surely only has the best intentions for her son and it's a good thing that her son acknowledges his mother accordingly.

Happy Mother's Day to all Nanays! #BeedaSiNanay