[WILMA, my first sister in chronological order (as Wandra is my second sister), is shown here after dining at a restaurant with her friends. Wilma is presently managing a hardware store in Cubao, Quezon City.Her friends are all jestingly referring to her as a future hardware businesswoman tycoon. Well, for an apt FUN RHYME line: Wilma could be a future TYCOON, as her hardware business is best after a TYPHOON…he,he,he…]
She could have been the WONDER WOMAN1 of MURPHY,
For as a toddler she tried to fly like a BIRDIE2;
But sans those helpful wings, she fell to the GROUND3 —
She stood up quick, NO KNOCK-OUT like in a BOXING ROUND!
With that FALL she became much STRONGER,
She can OUT-TALK the late ALI4 who’s a BOXER;
After a tutoring stint in a fashion school at CORA DELOROSO5,
She truly became quaint & decorous…MUCHO GRACIOSO!5a
And now after years of serving as NURSE6 in Qunfudah, K.S.A.7,
That’s an Arab county with a very large QUAY8;
She met her DREAM BOAT who became her caring PAL9,
Thence, they became loving partners— MARITAL!
She cooks the best KARE-KARE10 in the whole WORLD,
She makes the OX TAIL dish as though it’s to be served to a LORD;
I gifted DOC ANDY TAN11 with a canister so FULL,
Doc ANDY said its luscious…’tis truly GREAT, so COOL!
My sister WILMA has now become PRAYERFUL,
A legacy from Mom NORMA12, who loves Malaysian mums colored PURPLE;
WILMA has since taken care of Mom’s DEVOTION,
The PASSION READING13 — that’s an old tradition in our NATION!
And as WILMA has loomed as our BEST COOK,
She prepares the FOOD for our leisure at our WEEKLY NOOK14;
It’s sort of a regular reunion of the CLAN,
It’s MAHJONG15 that’s a firm part of the weekly PLAN!
And as WILMA plays MAHJONG well too,
She sometimes WINS and sometimes LOSES too;
But it’s the weekly BONDING and the family SHARING,
For this! WILMA needs to be gifted with a PIN EARRING16!
Thus, on this — your precious NATAL DAY,
I’ll try to score a PIN EARRING for you with less PAY;
I’ll connect with ARCHIE17 who’s OUR AMAZING NEPHEW,
And ask him to buy the TRINKET…well just a FEW!
[WILMA, the birthday celebrant, is shown here in this group photo taken during Shayna’s wedding; with members of her family (except for Wiena who was busy at school)-From L-R: Ronnie (Wilma’s hubby, Wilma, Ella and the couple’s only son, Rommel.]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILMA!!!!
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[1 – WONDER WOMAN is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics who possesses extraordinary powers just like the power of FLIGHT which my sister WILMA seemingly tried to mimic as a toddler. And that seeming “flight” of WILMA happened many years ago, in the early 1960s, at our ancestral home located at 19th Avenue, Murphy, Cubao, Quezon City, Metro-Manila, Philippines.
2 – BIRDIE is used here to refer to a BIRD and not to the GOLF term of making a hole with a stroke which is one under par.
3 – When we were young and WILMA and WINSTON were still toddlers; there was a time (as Mommy Norma goes regularly to Divisoria) when WINSTON was pleading to Mommy Norma to allow him to join in Mommy Norma’s trip to Divisoria. However, Mommy Norma said NO and Winston tried to get Mommy Norma’s sympathy and a possible YES by WEEPING and CRYING out loud. At that time, we have a long sofa which adjoins the large but un-grilled window (it can be opened and closed via the window sills made of capiz shells by sliding it to and fro along the chiseled funnel on the lower horizontal wood window jamb) in our ancestral home located along 19th Avenue in Murphy, Cubao. And Winston, perhaps to attract Mommy Norma’s attention who started her journey to Divisoria by intending to just walk up to 15th avenue to take a JD Bus ride to Divisoria (instead of taking a taxi as a taxi ride then was not only scarce but expensive). And as Mommy Norma walked away, Winston’s crying went louder and louder while I served my role as some kind of “police” to thwart any attempt on the part of Winston to run out of the house and join Mommy Norma. So, feeling that he cannot run out of the house as I was a strict “enforcer’, Winston continued to shriek, weep and cry all the louder. Wilma then was about 2 or 3 years old. And as Wilma was so innocent and naïve, Wilma walked up the sofa where Winston was then prancing while weeping, after her curiosity was aroused as to why Winston was crying, weeping and shrieking so loud looking out of the window while crying. Upon coming atop the sofa and holding on to the shoulder of Winston to sort of balance her as the sofa was made of a cushioned topping, Wilma eventually clung to Winston’s shoulder. But Winston’s gaze was much focused at the far left horizon where Mommy Norma had walked away and gone along 19th Avenue towards maneuvering a short-cut through an alley into 18th Avenue and eventually the Main Road (now, Justice Lourdes Paredes San Diego Avenue). So, due perhaps to Winston’s anger for not having successfully swayed Mommy Norma to return back home and to fetch him and allow him to join in the Divisoria trip, he eventually nudged Wilma forcefully as though as in a seeming jiu-jit-su move. As Wilma had earlier clung so tightly unto Winston to maintain her balance atop the cushioned sofa; Wilma like a ball, suddenly went out of the huge open window. Wilma thereafter dropped upon the roofing of the window eaves and rolled down unto the muddy ground fronting our house (back then as our ancestral’s house’s frontage is uncemented; when it rains— the ground would turn so muddy). We all rushed downstairs together with Winston, and as Wilma rose up with splotches of mud all over her face; I heard Winston weepingly shouting: “HINDI PA PATAY; HINDI PA PATAY!” [English translation: “SHE’S NOT DEAD; SHE”S NOT YET DEAD!”]. That indeed, was truly a WONDER WOMAN caper! DIVISORIA is actually a shopper’s paradise located in western Manila almost near the North Harbor and items and products are sold there at really reduced bargain prices.
4 – ALI is Muhammad Ali and the former Cassius Clay who is acknowledged as the greatest boxer of all times. And like our WILMA, Muhammad Ali is loquacious too.
5 – Daddy Max was able to enroll both my sisters Wilma and Wandra to a summer class at the CORA DELOROSO Fashion School.
5a – To achieve RHYME, the male variant of GRACIOSA is used here in this FUN RHYME BLOG, thus; MUCHO GRACIOSO which actually means CUTE and ATTRACTIVE. But as WILMA has mellowed and aged; she is not much of CUTE nowadays, perhaps the better term is “PA-CUTE” na lang…
6 – Wilma took up NURSING in FEU and eventually she worked as an OFW from 1985 to 1997 in a hospital in Qunfudah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
7 – K.S.A. is acronym for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
8 – QUAY means a pier or a seaport. Though KSA is partially landlocked, Qunfudah lies in the Tihamah region on the coast of the Red Sea. Its population is the fourth largest in Makkah Province, and it is one of the large sea ports of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea.
9 – Wilma became friends with her former boyfriend and her present husband and marital partner, Ronaldo F. Reyes.
10 – Kare-kare is a Philippine stew complimented with a thick savory peanut sauce. It is made from a base of stewed oxtail, pork hocks, calves feet, pig feet, beef stew meat, and occasionally offal or tripe.
11 – Doc Andy Tan who is my friend and who loves KARE-KARE; is the incumbent President of the Ateneo Schools Parents Council aka ASPAC.
12 – Mom Norma is our late mother Norma Tobias Young.
13 – Mommy Norma has made her devotion sometime in the mid-1950s, to conduct an annual PASSION READING during the season of Lent in our house which is a practice known in the vernacular as PABASA.
14 – Every SUNDAY, our ancestral home and the present home of our Daddy Max at the upper floor (while Wilma’s family makes home at the ground floor); serves as a weekly place of recreation and leisurely rest (just like a NOOK which is a place of shelter and rest). This recreation is achieved via the playing of MAHJONG thereat, a game which they all relish and play among all of my siblings (except me who up to now does not know the intricacies of MAHJONG) and Daddy Max.
15 – MAHJONG is a tile-based game that originated in China during the Qing dynasty. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-player variations found in South Korea and Japan). The game and its regional variants are widely played throughout Eastern and South Eastern Asia and have a small following in Western countries. Similar to the Western card game rummy, MAHJONG is a game of skill, strategy, and calculation and involves some degree of chance.
16 – PIN EARRINGs have now become a fad and a trend in the US after the assumption of President Donald Trump to power. It actually is an earring in the form/design of a SAFETY PIN which sorts of convey the message that they are SAFE INHABITANTS of the U.S.A and are not UNSAFE like the terrorists to which Pres. Trump has focused his attention particularly of banning mostly Muslim immigrants. I intend to buy this trinket as a gift for Wilma as Wilma and my other sister Wandra are the known and acknowledged trendsetters in our family. This will surely keep Wilma much more SAFE from another try to mimic WONDER WOMAN…he,he,he…
17 – Archie is our nephew on the maternal side whose full name is ARCHIBALD G. LLORCA; the grandson of my aunt TEODORA TOBIAS and uncle GENEROSO LLORCA.]
