From Dawn Till Dusk

Anticipating that I’ll occupied for five days for some last hurrah at work, I was kinda hesitant at the last minute to sleep over the Hotel where my little team will be staying even if I concurred to do overnight work just as to accomplish many expected tasks. Not that I don’t want to sacrifice my precious time with the family, because always when I am asked, I would say that I am more than willing to devote the five days for the big event since it will be my last. It’s just that I am so worried that even Jun would be there to supervise the housework that needs to be accomplished by our two kasambahays Rizza and Ness, they won’t be able to manage everything well in the house.

The laundry and ironing of clothes (most especially Nico’s school uniforms), what to cook for the three major meals, bathing and dressing up Nico for school, and keeping up with the scheduled napping and sleep hours in the night for Nico were topmost of my concerns.I wonder if they could do everything because the last time I was on a three-day seminar in Tagaytay two years back, I remember Jun didn’t do a good job - - at all. Hay grabe, disaster. He resorted to buying viands (and even rice, imagine that?) in what he called “trusted Carinderias” near our residence even if I stocked meals to cook inside the fridge. Good thing though Nico didn’t catch anything bad in the stomach out of his Dad’s frequent trips to the Carinderias. And to add to that three-day disaster, the Dad shy away from keeping up with the scheduled long-afternoon naps of Nico even if it was my strict bilin that he should stick on a scheduled routine. Shucks, his only reason for not adhering to the schedule: Nico just wanted to play the entire afternoon and simply wouldn’t want to sleep. Well, I had no other choice then but to accept things as they were. What’s been done were done, so need I complain?

So for this last hurrah at work, I was so worried that I literally gave each three of them a detailed schedule on what to do, where and when to the chore plus a detailed explanation on how to do them. The three just laughed at me after reading the schedule I gave them. “Eh para naman kaming mga bata nito,” Jun said while the two kasambahays reassured me they’ll be doing what I said so.

The evening of 22nd, I was constantly calling home in between dinner time and midnight setups and rehearsals just to check on what’s happening back at home. True enough, when I checked what was Nico doing around 8PM, the Ness and Rizza said I need not worry as Nico was put to sleep as early as 7:30. It was something unusual but good news for me because with me at home, Nico usually sleeps at 10PM, the earliest. I don’t know and it’s hard to explain, but he just seemed still giddy and excited to play with me for some more hours before finally bidding goodnight. The following morning, I called again to check if the two kasambahays have awaken so that they can prepare breakfast early and that Nico would not be late for school. Good to know the two have waken up early, already preparing breakfast the time I called (around 6AM) and Nico and Dad were heading towards the bathroom for a quick bath. Well, I admit they’ve exceeded my expectations as when I was home, I usually bathe Nico at late at 7:30AM as I need to get through first with his tantrums and whining before I win him over and convince his to take a bath. Aba, at humirit pa ang dalawa, “Mas okay pa yata Ate pag wala ka dito dahil hindi nag i-inarte si Nico”. “Wag ka mag-alala Ate, kami ang bahala sa lahat dito,” the two said in chorus. I asked Jun if the two were telling the truth. And convincingly, he said everything’s fine and no need for me to worry and to attest more, Nico was like a parrot copying words of his Dad, “Mommy, huwag na ikaw worry, okay kami”.

And after that good talk in the morning, I controlled myself from sub-conscious panic and concentrate on work-related matters. So the next time I called, it was just a mild check on how they were doing in the afternoon and another last call before Nico goes to sleep at night. I was happy to know the two kasambahays are doing a great job managing the household the way I told them to. And what even surprised me was the two took the initiative of doing some clerical work related to our little business such as arranging the delivery receipts by date and by publication. Jun and I didn’t even require them to those things, but the two willingly volunteered.

When I got back home (actually, they fetched me in the Hotel, err, they maximized their stay in the Hotel by enjoying the pool and sleeping over with me at my last night for the event), it was pleasant to see that everything was so okay in the house. The kitchen’s neat and clean, they did their assignment to scrub the molds and mildew in the bathroom, the clothes were already folded and ironed and placed in our dressers and cabinets as I told them so. And the fridge, the freezer obviously had a few stocks, meaning they really did their job to cook the meals I told them to do so.

That said, I’m more convinced now that two more extra hands makes up for a better home. And from now on, as inspired by AnnaManila whose confessed she’s but gentle with her kasambahays in a comment she made in this post, I too will call Rizza and Ness my Secretaries at home. I hope they don’t change. And if they do, I do pray it’ll be for the better, and not for the worst. *keeping fingers crossed, again and again*