Yesterday, my mother, Loreto Carreon Hernandez, would have celebrated her birthday, if she were alive.

I thought of her all day yesterday, this petite lovely woman whose early life was bounded by the four walls of the Assumption on Herran, where she was an “interna”.

On weekends , she went home to Carolina, Malate, where her guardians, the Tiaoquis, lived. She had been left in their care after her mother, Sevillana Carreon, passed away when she was just a baby.

She was nicknamed Menita , little girl, and she grew up with her elder cousins Aurora, Jose and Alfonso , whose friend and mentor was a guy named Joe Hernandez, a classmate at the University of the Philippines.

It was not surprising that when she met the brilliant student, she was swept off her feet.

When she turned 21, after graduating from high school, which then taught rich young girls to become proper wives,she accepted my father’;s proposal of marriage. The Tiaoquis could not disagree.

A year after they wed, my parents with my oldest sister Herminia, sailed for the United States, where my father was to take up Masteral studies at the Notre Dame University.

It must have cost a lot, but my mother was an heiress with fishponds and properties in her name, and all that mattered was her family..

Returning to the Philippines after my father got his Masteral degree, my parents lived comfortably in Minerva, Aviles, before leaving for Baguio City, where my dad headed the English department of the Philippine Military Academy.

When the Second World war started, my father had to leave for Bataan, and my mother had to fend for herself, with seven children .

She had never reaally worked a day in her life at a real job, but somehopa she managed to keep us clothed and fed , One by one, she sold her properties for stacks of Japanese paper money for us to survive. With my brother Ernie, she would buy and sell baby clothes to add to the family’s coffers.

Looking back, I am so proud of what she was able to accomplish.I am so ashamed for not having given her the credit she deserved.

My mother’s world revolved around my father. She took care of all his needs,forgave him his dalliances,and stayed with him until his last breath.

If that wasn’t love, what was it?

She survived him for 8 years and my deepest regret is that I did not spend as much time with her as I could.

Mother dearest, I know that after all you did for love of us, you are safely home in heaven.

Please find it in your heart to forgive this errant daughter’s sins of omission.

Happy, happy birthday!