Mommy is the oldest of 10 children. She was unofficially adopted by her single aunt (her Dad’s sister, who later married at age 40). She grew up in Manila with her aunt for most of her life, but would visit home to the province of llocos Sur during the summers to spend time with her biological parents and siblings.

Mommy attended an all-girls high school, St. Scholastica’s, which was taught by nuns. She really enjoyed living a structured life at boarding school, where every day had its own schedule, including waking and eating hours, going to church at 5 am every day, homework time, and recreation and social time on weekends, which included dances and movies with boys from the neighboring all-boys Catholic School, LaSalle. She learned how to dance boogie and all the popular dances. She also played on the softball team as a pitcher. She considers high school one of the best times of her life.

When Mommy and Daddy used to write each other love letters, Mommy would use the pen name, “Innamorata”. “Innamorata” was a love song written in 1955 and performed by Dean Martin. Mommy did not want anyone to know that she was responding to love letters from Daddy since they werenot officially a couple. Daddy courted Mommy for 10 years before she agreed to marry him at age 27.

Mommy had a very difficult first pregnancy, even though the rest were easy. During her first pregnancy, she would crave certain foods but would not eat them when given to her. She did not like the smell of Daddy and was afraid of taking showers. She labored for over 20 hours and her face became so swollen that when family and relatives came to visit her, they all thought they entered the wrong room because they couldn’t recognize her.

Mommy cut up her wedding gown train and turned them into pillowcases. She thought it would be a practical way of reusing her wedding attire. She did however, leave the wedding gown itself intact, which Yvonne used as her wedding gown years later. It seems Mommy was ahead of her time, already an advocate of upcycling. Daddy did not see it that way and was, of course, furious.

During the Japanese-American war in the Philippines, Mommy and her family escaped from the Japanese by boarding a huge fishing boat and staying at sea for a week. After a couple of days, the Americans met them at sea and brought her and her family back to shore to honor her Dad for acting as the physician for the guerillas. They later returned to the boat to continue their journey to Dagupan City. She was 12 years old at the time.

Mommy wanted to be a pharmacist, but because she was very sheltered, felt lost when she attended college. When registering for classes, she came across her elementary school friends, who were all registering for a degree in Education. She just followed her friends and ended up taking courses in Education as well. Later in life, she taught high school for 3 years in the province of llocos Sur. She didn’t really enjoy teaching and later worked as the manager of a radio station in Dagupan City for 20 years, for which she garnered yearly awards for her work.

Her all-time favorite actors are Chuck Norris and Jericho Rosales. She loves to watch soap operas, both English and Filipino.

Mommy can’t eat pizza or sandwiches unless she has a Coke. She likes cheese pizza but does not like cheese on her burgers. Japanese cuisine is her favorite food.

Mommy adopted her children’s names from her favorite movies and movie characters. Randy was named after Randolph Scott. Desiree’s name came from the movie Desiree, which tells the story of Desiree Clary and her relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte. Rowena was named after Lady Rowena in the movie Ivanhoe. Yvonne was named after Yvonne De Carlo. Nadja’s story was the most interesting. Mommy was so sure she was going to have a boy, that she only planned on boys’ names. To her surprise, she gave birth to a baby girl. Unprepared, Mommy’s close friend ended up naming Nadja, and later became her godparent.