Hi, Mom!
Writing a regular column has turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated. I had initially thought that I could easily stock two to three articles at any given time and just leisurely replenish it each week. Alas, proponents of the famous Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory management system will be very proud of me. My deadline is on Thursdays and on good weeks, I’m done by Wednesday evening. But more often nowadays, my wife finds me on Thursday mornings in bed staring outside the window with a faraway look as the cursor blinks impatiently on the empty computer screen behind me. You can almost hear Anthony Castelo singing one of his old standards, “Malayo ang tingin, wala namang tinatanaw…”
Walang topic (no topic) is more like it. I’ve found that the hardest part of writing a column is thinking of a good topic to write about. No topic, no article. I’ve begged everyone who has given me feedback for suggested themes. In desperation, I’ve even at times asked my kindergarten nephews and nieces for advice. In recent months, my process of searching for interesting subject matter has been further complicated by my beloved and soon-to-be-90-year-old mother. Although still bed-ridden, she has miraculously recovered from a severe illness and has now made reading my articles one of her regular routines. She actually cuts out the articles from the newspaper and puts them in an album! While I always strive to maintain a certain level of quality in anything I write for my own satisfaction, knowing that she religiously reads my articles has added just a little bit more pressure. Given the limited number of things she can do to entertain herself, I now feel the need to try to come up with something that will at least be as amusing to her as her favorite shows on cable TV. Moreover, as my mother is old school in the classic MTRCB (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board) sense, I also need to self-regulate the topics I select lest I risk a suspension! Kidding aside, knowing that at least one person will read what I write each week is a very calming thought. And that is probably why the expression “Hi, Mom!” just popped in my head as I panicked to find something to write about today.
Come to think of it, have you ever wondered why people always seem to blurt out “Hi, Mom!” whenever they’re put on the spot to say something on stage or on TV? (I was also going to ask why people don’t say “Hi, Dad!” as often, but that will have to wait for a future article.) It’s not just excitable guests who come out on noontime game shows that do so, too. I’ve seen newscasts and documentaries where hardened soldiers in the middle of a war zone nervously make the shout-out to their moms. During sporting events, many big and burly athletes mouth the expression as well after they make a spectacular play or when the TV camera is suddenly thrust in front of them. Some might argue, however, that in the Philippines, we don’t just greet our moms on TV but also relatives up to the 100th level of consanguinity, friends, neighbors, officemates, provincemates, and the rest of humanity. Still, I do think that “Hi, Mom” is in a class of its own even to us Filipinos. I mean when Manny Pacquiao greets a million other people in the ring after one of his bruising fights, you know from just the tone of his voice that his acknowledgement of his Nanay Dionisia is different, right? I think that during intense moments when we don’t really know what to say or do, our thoughts instinctively default to the person or persons we are most familiar or most comfortable with. And there are very few people who can truly be that comfortable and familiar to us than our moms. I guess that it doesn’t matter what and who we are, we’ll always be mama’s boys. Of course, we all have to eventually grow up and think for ourselves. When we get married and start a family, our wives and children also move into our center stage. But our mothers will always keep their special place in our hearts. That is why even as we grope for words when we get to have our 15 minutes of fame on television, we never forget to greet our moms. It may seem like a simple and innocent phrase but said in such a public and emotional environment, I think that it carries a whole lot more meaning than a mere two-word greeting. And inasmuch as I don’t think I’ll be guesting in Wowwowee, joining the Marines, or slugging it out in the ring with Floyd Mayweather anytime soon, this column will have to do for me to announce to the world: “Hi, Mom!”
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