The Broom Incident (Awakening to the Challenge of Being a Parent and Running a Household)

“Where there are challenges, that’s where there is life…” the priest said during the homily. Bolo turned to me and with a smirk on his face told me, “See?!” He did not, but still I felt as if he stuck his tongue at me.

Yesterday was Mama’s 59th birthday and we went to hear the 7 AM mass at the Shrine. It meant getting up to get ready real early. But it was all worth it. There’s something about being able to start one’s Sunday with an early Mass. Somehow, one is able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day more. Maybe because it meant we don’t have to think about rushing to the church anymore.

Anyway, the smirk on Bolo’s face was in response to the long “lecture session” I had with him the day before that. Sigh. We were discussing some marital woes, our responsibilities and what our attitude should be about them. By lecture, it meant, it was I who was doing all the talking most of the time har-har-har-har :) Probably, Bolo was seeing it as me, bemoaning the difficulty of it all thus the "see-stuck-his-tongue-at-me" gesture of his.

I guess the homily sort of served as a reminder for us both. It’s really not easy being married and becoming parents. It’s such a far cry from one’s being at the receiving end when we were yet young and under our parents’ care. Being parent meant, one is now responsible for the providing part. And Bolo and I - and Candy too, Jeni, Rochelle and the rest of my friends – are finding out everyday how exactly difficult that is.

I remember this one incident that really drove home that very point to me. Mama came to visit one day. She was still living at the Empress home then and there was just Bolo and I living at home. Anyway, she pointed out to me that I needed to buy a new broom as what we’re using could now hardly sweep anything.

Really, that sort of struck me. I was like shocked at having found out that now, even that has become my responsibility. I mean, I never thought about broom replacements at any time in my life before. It simply was never a concern of mine. Until that day when Mama pointed it out to me.

The following days after that I became aware that I am also responsible for all the minute details involved in running a household. I’ve been so dependent that I’ve always taken all these things for granted. Mama was always there to be on top of everything. Should I forget anything, she was always there to remind me. After that broom incident, it dawned on me that I am now the “Mom” in the little “household” that Bolo and I are now sharing and building everyday. Funny how it took a broom to let everything finally sink in all at once.

The minute I become a parent, I immediately made some adjustments to fit the role. I did everything I thought a mother should do… but I guess it never really dawned on me (completely) that it includes running the household too and being on top of it.

I guess the reason for this was that I got a bit of a pampering when I have just gotten birth – from Bolo, from my Mom, my aunts and even my cousins. Somehow, there was always someone to assist me in everything that I had to do… So now that Baby is grown and the support has somewhat been slowly withdrawn… I’m slowly finding myself at the very helm of “household management” – with a broom for a scepter Hahaha What a thought!