My Promo-Mentors Writing Challenge: A weekend with Ma

So this happened on a Monday Manila time. I hope this will still be counted because

1. I'm off Sundays and Mondays
2. I work for a company that caters to American clients which means I follow the American calendar (which makes my Monday morning Manila time technically a Sunday evening American time)

I hope you still consider this. :-)

I have been avoiding my mother for a couple of months now. We still text each other often, I call her up sometimes, I facebook her every now and then. I just avoid being in the same room with her because she would then again attempt to bring me to that place and would ask me again to join her in her Multi Level Marketing (networking) gig. It's a thing here in the Philippines and I've been dodging her invite for years now.

So last Monday I thought she might have taken the hint that I just don't want to join her. I got to her house early trying to avoid the heavy traffic. She was outside when I got there. Since it was a weekend dinner last night, I knew my brothers did not help her out with the chores so the first thing I did was wash a mountain of dishes. She was done watering her plants when I finished.

There's really not so much we could do at her home since my brothers weren't home, my sister and my neices and nephews were at school. And I really wanted to hang out with her so I caved in to her invite. I can see it really made her happy.

Since the requirements were really easy to come by, I successfully registered. She asked me to place my orders and we'll be on our way. I decided I wanted to hang out at the sales office. I get to see how cool my mom is. She's popular in there. In the world of multi level marketing, she is a goddess! She knows everyone, she helps everyone out. I stayed there for a couple of hours more then I called it a day.

I wanted to stay a little bit more but I still need to go to work in the evening since it's gonna be a Monday morning in America. I invited her for an early snack/late lunch. We picked up my nephews at school and since they're with us, they got to pick where we'll eat.

_{Taken June 18th Manila}

While we were at Jollibee, she gave me some pointers on how to be a housewife since she knows it's my dream to be freed from the corporate world.

She told me that I cannot rely on just one source of income. I can't just be an employee, I also have to have side lines. She told me that it has been the reason why she has been asking me to join her.

If you decide to quit your job and stay at home with your kid, you can't just sit there and wait for your husband's money. You need to also help with the expenses while taking care of the family and balancing the budget. It's tough but I know you'll make it.

Her confidence in me gave me the boost with the decision I was about to do that night. I submitted my letter of resignation. I guess I really just wanted to see how she did it when she was still a stay at home mom taking care of four kids at the same time. Seeing her - how she took care of me and my siblings, how she raised us amidst all the challenges we went through - made me realize that indeed, mother knows best.

I know no matter what I do, she'll be there to guide me and support me. I guess she knows that no matter how old your kids become or how many kids they'll have too, a mom's job will never end. A mom will forever be a mom. And I know now to always listen to her even when what she says doesn't make sense to me.

And that's my weekend (technically) with Ma.

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