Way back when I don't have a job and my father was the only one sustaining our daily needs, we were raised to appreciate simple things. Like when it is snack time, me and my siblings were only given P5.00 to buy our food. We often bought polvoron. At some point, I got really envy with my cousins who can buy piattos, lala and a lot of different food just by asking their parents. I can still clearly remember on my puberty days, I started to grow and my boobs became visible but my mom can't afford to buy baby bra because my father's income is only enough for our food supply, sometimes don't and my mom had to make ways for us to eat for the day. We were in debt, we never got out in debt even after I reached my college years.
During college, my pocket money was P50.00. So everytime my friends would ask to eat somewhere, I have to keep P7.00 for my transportation. I was just lucky that I became friends with individuals who can understand my circumstances. There were times that we will eat in KFC. Hotshots before only costs P50.00, that's the cheapest meal they have. So when I ordered that, my friends will contribute ao that I will have a money for my transportation. These instances in my life made me used on not celebrating my birthday.
As a girl, I guess everyone wants to celebrate their 18th birthday as extravagant as possible, I too. But since I know that we don't have enough money to do that, I accepted that no celebration will be held. Come my 18th birthday, me and my kambal (twin); our endearment since we were born 1 day apart, we don't have any planned get together nor eat out that day. Our friends understood. It was already time to go home from school. Usual girl thing is we go to the restroom. Joanna; our bestfriend, blindfolded us (me and my twin) using a scarf. She guided us back to I don't know where but when we removed the blindfold, our friends held a surprise debut celebration in our classroom. There's cake, gift and there were also 18th candles and roses, even christmas lights on the floor was set up. It was hosted as if it was a normal debut celebration. We were even got called out by the guard in our school because it's already late and we should not be at the school premise, but he understood that situation and give us an extension to stay. Us celebrants were speechless at the moment and we did nothing but cry and said our thank you's to everyone. After celebrating at the school, we invited them to eat street food near our school, they gladly agreed.
On my way home, I can't still not believed what had happened. After unwrapping their gift, I saw that it is an Avril Lavigne cd. I'm a die hard fan and it made me really happy. But that's not how it end. My father got home from work with a flower he gave to me. It was not bought since as I have mentioned before, we were not capable on spending outside the budget. He got it from a municipal program's decoration. I literally cried because of how he spent the effort on getting the flower, given that my father is a real shy type person.
I grew up appreciating simple things and that's something I will keep forever with me. I may not be rich monetarily, but I was gifted by people who will never leave my side during my worsts amd highs. They are still with me up to this date and I know they are all God given gifts that I am blessed to have.
Closing words
I remember those days when we do not really celebrate pur birthdays much. But when my elder sister finally graduated and got her job, she never let a birthday passed without any celebration. Even "small" achievements are now celebrated such as getting through a hard semester, being one of the honor students for a quarter, getting the highest score or perfect score on an exam, etc.
She never let us feel that we have nothing to look forward to on our special day. For my part, I try to contribute to make her days special as well.
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Naalala ko tuloy nung nag debut ako haha kakain lang dapat kami ng mga kaklase ko sa mang inasal kase wala kaming pera. Kaso ginabi naman kami ng uwi kaya hindi na nakakain sa mang inasal kaya nung pag uwi ko sa bahay kala ko hindi ako hinandaan pag dating ko haha ang daming handa kaya bigla kong sinabihan mga kaklase ko konti lang nakapunta. Kaya yung mga pagkain na hinanda hindi naubos mga nasira lang kinabukasan nasayang haha