The son spoiled his 77-year-old mom again.
It was Sunday, 27 February 2011. It’s routine for Mom and me to hear evening mass at the Powerplant Mall and have dinner there afterwards. This day, we decided to go to Malate Church for a change. You should have seen the excitement in her eyes when I told her that we would eat at the Aristocrat after the mass.
That was our first mass together at Malate Church. My first time was in August last year when I attended a family friend’s wedding. Hers was in the 1950s – and that was also her last. Hearing mass with me now marked her return to that church after more than 50 years. The moment was so nostalgic that she actually prayed like a Catholic, as she used to be. (She’s Protestant, by the way.)
After the mass, we walked our way to the Aristocrat for dinner. When we got to our table, she kept on looking at the walls and interiors of the restaurant as if it was her first time. She told me then that the last time she ate here was in the 1950s. And now, fifty years later, she was back for a date with her man, not with my late Dad but with her only child. What could be more romantic than being married to your mom?
I ordered my favorite Aristocrat dish, dinuguan. I got Mom her much-loved food, camaron rebusado. I also ordered other dishes that filled up our table and would feed an entire family. Nothing was left.
We walked to Manila Bay like she used to with my late Dad. It amused me a lot to see her enjoying the night. I knew and felt at that very moment that fifty golden years of good memories suddenly came flashing into her mind. I held her hand and told her it was 10 PM. It was time to go home.
(Photo: Mom enjoying a luscious dinner at the Aristocrat in Malate, her first in over 50 years.)
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