kaBINGihan at kaBIANCAhan

I come from a big brood – two sons, a daughter, a granddaughter, three sisters, and four brothers.

Meet my parents.

Dad is a retired government employee. He was an Administrative Officer at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Batanes.

Mom is a dentist, and worked with the Batanes General Hospital, both as a Dentist and an Administrative Officer.

Dad is cool, Mom is a disciplinarian.

After retirement, they have been traveling. First stop was Bangkok, second  was Singapore. They are eyeing Hongkong in June this year. These are overdue, well-deserved vacations after years of preparing us for our future. By the way, Mom gave birth to me on November 26, 1965. (Hmmmm I can see somebody doing the maths. hahaha)

Meet my children Godwin (Bap), Lord Xavier (Pop), and Juliana Bianca, and granddaughter Veronica Leigh (Viel).

Bianca, my only daughter, turned four on February 25, 2009. She is the biggest threat to my sanity, I promise you.

She tells me to shut up when I’m sermonizing, and shuts down my computer (yes, shut down NOT just turn it off) to spite me. And she’s just 4! Grrrrrr. Wahuhuhuhuhu.

Bap finished AB Legal Studies at the Lyceum of the Philippines, and works with Accenture. He’s single, carefree, and lives on his own.

Pop finished Computer Systems & Networking Techonology at AMA and is self-employed. He has the cutest little daughter, Veronica Leigh, whom we fondly call Viel.

Viel was born on July 24, 2008. I was there when she was born – saw her finding her way out to our world,  heard her first cry, saw her first winks, saw her first kicks, watched her first bath – everything.

Such a wonderful sight. Such a wonderful bundle of joy. Indeed, big things come in small packages!

Veronica was taken from my other name. Yes, it’s my other name, aside from Agnes. Saintly names. Oh, somebody from Germany is gonna give a violent reaction on the “saintly” thingy. Hahaha.

Meet my sisters Cecille (Chilet), Ma. Luthgarda (Malu), and Marian Daisy (Daisy).

Cecille finished Med Tech and Medicine from FEU and Fatima University, respectively. She’s mom to 4-year old Ma. Angela and 2-year old Jacob. Family and friends call her Chilet. She is fifth in the family.

Ma. Luthgarda is single by choice, and intends to stay that way. She had hopes of meeting a man who had an IQ of 150. Told her to go find one at the mental hospital. Haha. By the way, she is sixth in the brood.

Malu finished General Humanities at the University of Asia and the Pacific and Masters in Public Administration in Ateneo.

Daisy is the youngest. Another carefree soul.

She drives like there’s no tomorrow. If you wanna end up your life early, be with her on a car – with her on the wheels.

One time, she had her BF alight from the car because she was driving, and her boyfriend was getting nervous, and was telling her to slow down. Poor boyfriend had to take the bus. Bwhahha. She’s my sister, yes!

Daisy finished AB Mass Communications at San Sebastian College.

Meet my brothers Luther Jr. (Jun), Luther III (Dino), Luther Norman (Tutik), and Christian Luther.

Jun is second to the eldest (that’s me) and the only one who is staying with Dad & Mom in Batanes. He studied drafting at the Technological Institute of the Phil (TIP). No wife, no girlfriend, no life. He sleeps at 8:00 pm, and wakes up at 4:30 am. That’s his routine. Shhhhh he’s boring. Matandang binata. I hope he doesn’t read this. Hahaha. Peace, bro!

Dino is third in the brood. He finished BS Radiological Technology at the Family Clinic, Inc. He’s  a very responsible dad to Alonso, Miguel, and Yves.

Fourth in the brood is Tutik. He studied BS Sociology at the University of the East. He’s been married for more than three years now but no kids yet. He and his wife are in Dublin, Ireland.

Christian, the seventh in the brood finished Fine Arts at the University of the East, and Nursing at the Philippine College of Health and Sciences. He runs his own nursing review center in Dipolog City.

Big family, eh? We do have our share of petty fights but we always make up. We live by our Mom’s words – “You should learn how to understand and accept each other’s strengths and weaknesses. You are eight people with eight different names – and that makes each one of you unique from one another. You may have some misunderstandings at some point, but at the end of the day, you will always be family.”