Dominique Angel, 38, with mother Leonora Angel, 62, spending time together at Plaza Independencia.(CDN PHOTO/Gerriane Rizon)
Dominique Angel knelt beside his 62-year-old mother Leonora Angel, massaging her right leg as they spent Mother’s Day relaxing under a tree at the Plaza Independencia, one of Cebu City’s landmarks.
Angel spoke to his mother, who looked content as they watched other mothers spend Mother’s Day with their families.
“A lot of us forget how important our mothers are because we are always so busy,” he said in Cebuano.
Angel, the second of four children, said it was the first time that he spent Mother’s Day with his mother at the park.
Usually, he said, they would mark the occasion with flowers, some greeting cards and lunch with his siblings.
Support
But this year, Angel’s siblings weren’t available so they went to Plaza Independencia for the occasion and while waiting for his wife who was attending Mass at a nearby church to join them.
Angel said he spends time caring for his mother who is wheelchair-bound after she suffered a stroke.
When asked what lessons he learned from his mother, Angel said he learned perseverance.
He said he saw his mother work hard to support him and his siblings after their father abandoned their family.
Angel said his mother even skipped work to follow-up on her children’s placement exams.
Determination
“It changed our lives because I was contented then to just work at a construction site. We changed because of my mother’s determination,” Angel said.
Angel finished his studies at the Cebu Normal University, became a teacher and is now secretary to Loon Municipal Mayor Lloyd Peter M. Lopez of Bohol province.
“I can only thank my mother for not giving up on us,” Angel said.
Irish Postanes spends Mother’s Day with family. (CDN PHOTO/Gerriane Rizon)
Cebu Daily News also talked with two other mothers who celebrated Mother’s Day at the Plaza Independencia.
Sister Lilita, a 40-year-old native of Daanbantayan town who lives near the White Gold ruins in barangay Carreta, went to church with her family and waited at the plaza for her husband and two children as they registered at the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Bohol-native Irish Postanes was also at the plaza with her partner Joselito and nine-month-old daughter, Juris, and a nephew.
When asked what she would advise her daughter, Postanes smiled and told Cebu Daily News that she would remind her to do well in school./Gerriane Rizon, UP Cebu Intern