A lot of companies got plenty of media mileage by capitalizing on the celebration of Mother’s Day last May 8. This occasion inspired numerous commercials extolling mothers and their special role in our lives. Commercials endrosing products like Surf, Johnson and Johnson were among my favorite ads this day.

Truly, a mother’s touch means a world of difference.

A child’s bond with her mother can never be truly severed.

What could possible motivate me and my brother to clean the house, mop the floor and bring home a cake? Why, Mother’s Day of course!

My mother and I have had our share of wonderful memories and numerous disagreements in the past. We have had days of shopping, dining out and watching movies (even though she almost always sleeps through some parts of the movie). We have also had cold wars and fiery arguments. The generation gap between us is all too evident especially since people sometimes mistake her for my grandmother.

Underneath my facade of independence beats the heart of a little girl who still looks up to her mom for security and reassurance. Yes, she has since stopped from picking me up from school everyday when I was in Elementary and she no longer drills me about my gimiks with my friends and officemates. Still, she is always ready to listen to my anecdotes about my day at work or view the pics from my latest outing.

I’ve realized that my mother is more than being my alarm clock, my ATM, my landlady or household manager — she is also my biggest fan, my greatest ally and my best friend.

Here’s to you Mama and all mothers worldwide who deserve not only this day but everyday as Mother’s Day!

Our own Mother’s Day celebration was rather simple but definitely heartfelt.

We only had Janice, my brother’s girlfriend, as our guest.

We had tuna hors d’oeuvres, pinakbet, buko pie from Laguna (where Mama went on an outing at Splash Mountain with the Catholic Women’s League) and chocolate cake with the message "Happy Mother’s Day Mama  From J en J."

Barely a week after he came into our lives, we bade goodbye to baby Blogger after he accidentally ingested rat poison. He appeared fine last Sunday morning (May — I even played with him a bit before putting him in his place. By sundown, he started stirring and I took him out to play but he was unusually weak. He could barely move and I was getting worried about his condition.

Mama, with her sharp maternal instinct, urged me to bring Blogger to a veterinarian so I brought him to a vet near us. She checked his temperature and pointed out that he was already very pale (his tongue was almost colorless when it should be slightly red). I told her that I suspected that he had accidentally eaten rat poison.

She injected pain killer and antidote into Blogger. She then instructed me to use a syringe (without a needle) to force feed him 1.5ccs of water with dissolved suger. She explained that he might not make it since he was so small and the poison would have spread quickly.

He started having spasms and the vet explained that the poison spreads from his digestive system all the way to the brain. I took him home and waited for Joseph to arrive from Greenhills where he bought the cake for Mama. unfortuantely, Blogger passed away before my brother got home.