Very interesting indeed!

I had to let go my very efficient helper, “Tina”, so that she can attend to her six children - 4 in grade school, 1 toddler and a baby.(actually, 7 kids, for she has a love child, who is not living with her now).
Though I need her services very badly, I think her children need her more. Told her to seek employment near her place, so she can be with the kids everyday, after work.

The day after Tina left, my friend and I started the hunt for a suitable replacement. After several stops, asking for leads on possible applicants, we came across a very young girl with a 2-year old lovechild. According to her, poverty drove her to stop schooling and to work as a helper in Manila at the age of 15. She met a young man from another province when she was 17 and gave birth to her love child before she turned 19. That man turned his back on her when he found out that she was pregnant.
A broken-hearted girl, already an unwed mother, and she’s not even 21 yet! If those statistics amazes you, wait for the next ones about this young girl’s mother!

Her mother, let’s call her,”Paula” is very charming and has a very sunny disposition. Paula narrated to us her life/love story. She had her first period at the age of 12, and eloped at the age of 13, with a truck helper 4 years her senior. She gave birth at the age of 15, and now in her late thirties, she already has seven grown-up children and three apos(grandchildren). She said that she never regretted getting married at the tender age of 13. She and her husband lived independently from day one of their marriage!

I am now trying to recall what I was all-gaga about when I was at that age. Paul Anka? Crushes/FL? The Twist? Limbo Rock? Hula-Hoop? Artistas, like Susan Roces and Amalia Fuentes, dresses, shoes(not necessarily in that order),etc, Definitely, marriage was not even in my vocabulary then!

How about you? What were your thoughts and interests when you were 13? It would be very interesting, indeed, to know.


An old blog from: http://www.titajo.com