kaladkarin

if this word has all the negative connotations to you, let them all fly... high!

i am proud to be kaladkarin.

i lived my life as cloistered as possible, that is from elementary to high school. not by choice mind you, err, it must be by authority. you see, we grew up with a father whose mistress is politics. the best dad ever minus the time constraint. so my mother took it upon herself to discipline the 7 lot, her 6 boys and 1 girl. to say that nanay was strict is an understatement. boy, i had the time of my life looking at them trying to explain so hard why they had to come back at 1am when they were told to so by 12 midnight. hehe, the cinderella boys. coupled with the fact that they all studied at de la salle green hills where boys would be boys, how hard could it be for them? if my brothers were under her strict baton, i graciously accepted the fact that her ways would be even 3x harder for her unica hija. of course there were some lapses. but the acceptance was there... as if i had a choice. *wink*

nanay was elected mayor of barotac viejo come 1992. the brgy captains who made the signature campaign to push tatay to make her run for office were happy. the TUPAS kids were even happier. we had the grandest times of our lives. if before we were allowed to go out only with a yaya and a personal driver with us, nanay's leadership in barotac would mean freedom. and freedom we got. manoy, the eldest among us and should i say the most scholarly, would get so frustrated with me: with my non-stop disco weekends. fortunately for me, i chose friends according to my mom's choice. responsible ones who just know how to have clean fun.

fast-forward to me getting married. life was a blast with parl. add to that, with cousins like Beej, Jiffy, Cindy and Bechay, how could life ever go wrong? i enjoy our late nights. our girls nights out. our cousins bonding times. that's how kalakarin i got now. a simple text, a late call or even a spur-of-the-moment decision would lead us to such happy moments. none is different when i have my brothers and their respective fams here in iloilo... or everytime i'm in manila. how do i go about getting the whole Tupas fam together? simple. i text them the time, date and place. perfect the attendance and usually ask the congressman bro to pay. hehe. i'm sure glad being the only girl in times like this.

nico and m are now 11 and 8 years old respectively. they're growing up with more freedom and understanding than we had ages ago. they are allowed to decide on some things. and they are asked to reason out every time we have an argument. what makes me bulge once in awhile? when they ask for permission to go out with their friends, or when m tries her luck for a pajama party with her girl friends. oh no, i have truly come full circle!

now the realizations set in. nanay's way of disciplining us made us what we are now. the values she and tatay instilled in us kept us away from harm during our college freedom years. their constant reminders are shaping our lives today.

my solution? let the kaladkarin word be exclusive to adults! i am proud to be one... at this age!