This afternoon, Marga told me she needed balloon spray paint and three meters of white velvet ribbon for tomorrow.
Tomorrow?!?
“When did your teacher tell you this?”
“Today,” she said.
I checked her assignment notebook, and sure enough, there was a new note from her teacher.
I was furious! Not so much because of the short notice, but because I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THOSE THINGS WERE!
It was already 3 PM. I hurriedly Googled the items and figured my best chance of finding them would be at a party supplies or balloon shop. So, after Hannah was dismissed from class, we drove around General Santos City, guided only by Google Maps.
Shop #1 was along a busy street near the public market. When we got there, there was no parking available. I couldn’t possibly leave both girls in the car while I went inside to check if they had effin’ balloon spray paint!
Shop #2 was in an abandoned, partially demolished building. Damaged by the recent earthquake? I don’t know. The shop was no longer there.
So I drove the girls home, grumbled a little about how teachers should give parents enough time to find these things, and decided to continue the search by myself.
The thing is, I already had my entire afternoon planned. I was supposed to finish my backlog of echo reports and catch up on my Zone 2 runs.
Ngunit, subalit, datapwat…
There I was, slowly driving through parts of GenSan I very rarely visit, looking for balloon spray paint and three meters of white velvet ribbon.
BALLOON SPRAY PAINT!
Until this afternoon, I didn’t even know such a thing existed.
Finally, I found a store selling balloons, party supplies, Christmas decorations, foil papers, girls’ ribbons and scrunchies, cheap toys, trinkets, and all sorts of what-nots, all obviously made in China.
The kuya guard was already pulling down one of the metal doors when I arrived. I hurried inside and, to my delight, found everything Marga needed! I even bought some cute hair ribbons for Hannah.
At the counter, I excitedly told the lady how happy I was that they had balloon spray paint.
“Ma'am, dili man na pang balloon.”
“Ha?!? Unsa man diay nang lingin-lingin? Balloon man na!”
“Dili man na balloons, Ma'am. Circles man na,” she replied, sounding almost as exhausted as I was.
I looked at the can again. It was gold spray paint, all right. And there were colorful, shiny circles on the label that I had automatically assumed were balloons.
Apparently, they were just circles.
Forty-seven years old. A cardiologist. A mother of two. And apparently, someone who can no longer distinguish balloons from circles. In my defense, I was tired, stressed, and my eyesight wasn't what it used to be!
I decided to buy it anyway. At least my daughter would have something to bring to school!
When I got home, Hannah was ecstatic about her new ribbons.
Marga looked at her things and, with all the innocent sincerity of a little girl, said, “Mommy, thank you. I’m so excited to show these to teacher tomorrow.”
Hay, anak. You have absolutely no idea what your mother went through today.
Anyway, I’ll be going shopping again tomorrow.
And oh the "velvet white ribbon" that I got? That's not velvet, that's satin.
But I bought an entire roll, all thirty meters of it.
Perhaps your teacher will be happy with that already.
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