80 Different Things: Part Two

 Celebrating Me 

Growing up happens in a heartbeat. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. - The Wonder Years

Growing Up

14. Growing up, I was English-speaking. Mum wrote on my baby book that I would choose clothes after a bath, Mummie, dis one wid pawers.

15. We lived for a while in the Llenado home with Mum's six sisters. They said that at an early age, I could recognize which bakya (6 pair for the sisters, one for the maid) at the foot of the stairs belonged to whom. 

16. It was there that Blackie the dog bit me, for which I had to endure anti-rabies shots.

17. Mum always adorned me with real jewelry. I had a silver bangle and a pair of hand-crafted earrings with blood red gemstone that was supposedly my birthstone. 

18. Sort of a tomboy? Yes. I wore t-shirts and shorts when it was unbecoming for girls to be so attired. Hated dolls. Didn't like getting dressed for photos.

19. On Saturdays, Mum sometimes gave money to the maid so we could go to Cine Rosie to watch cinema heart throbs Amalia Fuentes and Romeo Vasquez. 

20. My godmother Auntie Tessie was my idol. I wanted to be like her. She was unmarried and drove her own car.

Pouting Don't-Want-To-Be-A-Girl in overalls, a birthday hat, and dollie. Llenado House on Trabajo Street (now M. de la Fuente), Sampaloc, Manila. Circa 1948

21. Once, Ninang took me to the air-conditioned Life Theater to watch Lana Turner's blockbuster movie Imitation of Life. 

22. Mum told me to never forget that I was Llenado, a landowner family with old money.

23. Dad always teased me about my butt sticking out when I walked. I must have been thinking about my Llenado lineage.

24. Mum lectured me on the importance of owning land. It is immovable property, she would say.

Maria Francisco Llenado and Gregorio Llenado Sr. Sepia photograph of my grandparents: Llenado House on Trabajo Street (now M. de la Fuente), Sampaloc, Manila

25. Because I was fair-skinned, Mum always chose bright orange and yellow fabric for dresses that she sewed for me.

26. For Christmas, when most girls wore pink dresses, Mum had me wear an apple green dress. You'll be different, she'd say.

27. For New Year, she would sew a light blue dress for me, her idea of an appropriate welcome hue for the year.

(To be continued)

80 Different Things: Part One

 Celebrating Me 

         The important thing to remember is not to forget. - Benny Bellamacina

For the first time in my blog history, I'm writing as I go, while preempting an originally-scheduled series topic. For two reasons: Brother Number Two's discovery of some rare foto albums in our ancestral home at the Emilia Compound and the fact that this month marks my milestone 80th birthday. 

So, here's the plan. This series will be a celebration of me through 80 personal tidbits, unknown to you.

I've not reached that stage yet where my train of thought often leaves the station without me.Thus, I'm confident that I can do this.

Here goes.

Pencil Sketch: AVS, Columbus: October 2023

                                 

                                         BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS

Never forget where you came from and never take your eyes off where you're heading. - Anonymous

1. You already know that I was born on March 21, 1945 but perhaps, not the fact that I was born in Balic-Balic, Manila. It is a jeepney-ride away from my ancestral Emilia Compound home.

2. I was delivered by a midwife at home, don't know exactly at what time.

3. Because of my tiny, flat, round, and reddish nose, I was dubbed Tomato Nose.

4. Relatives had commented that I looked like Fat Mother (Dad's mother), a comparison that I resented, growing up.

5. My ears were pierced shortly after birth.

6. Milak was the name that I used to call my Mum, perhaps because she was my milk source.

7. Mum said that because of hard economic times, she had to feed me castanog (roasted coconut meat) which she said gave me the smarts.

8. When she could, she would save centavos to go to the sari-sari store to buy me an egg.

9. I told my Mum once that I didn't like my given name, Adoracion. I wanted an American name, like Jennifer or Elizabeth.

10. She reasoned out that Adoracion was the most beautiful name ever because it meant adoration in English.

11. She had vowed that her first-born child, if a girl, would be so named, as a form of her adoration of God. Note: Glad she didn't apply the scriptural reference to sacrifice of the first-born.

12. Conceding to my inclination toward an Americanized monicker, Mum nicknamed me Doris after Doris Day, a popular American actress and singer at the time.

13. As a child, when asked what my name was, I'd say, 'Chon Toyo. Mum and Dad took to Chon as a shortened form of Chona, referencing me in their mind to one Chona Recto-Kasten, a well-known socialite at the time. They kinda liked that linkage.

                                            (To be continued)