Godge

Today is Godging’s birthday.  She’s been our cook and all-around househelp for more than 20 years.  Today might just be an ordinary day for her.  Get up early to make breakfast for the family, pick up the paper and mail, go the market, say hello to the neighbors, clean the car, do the laundry, tend to the garden, attend to the dogs, tidy up the house, answer phone calls, open the gate, prepare lunch, do the laundry, and so on and so forth. And, malas, if she gets sermoned pa by Mom, tsk tsk tsk.  Oh, those never-ending chores to do, even on her birthday.  I guess that’s why nobody really knows or remembers their birthdays.   

 

But I do. I send her a birthday card every year since we migrated.  Yesterday while chatting with Ahia, he put on the webcam and I put on mine so I can see Godging and she could see me.  I saw that big smile on her face. And later, tears of joy.

 

I miss her a lot.  I miss that anytime I want to eat a particular dish, she makes it.  And she never disappoints.  When I taught her how to make the seafood rice of Mini Shabu Shabu.  She makes it better.  Why is that?  Whenever Irma was going to my house for cleaning, she’ll send me a dish or two.  And whenever I visit Tagdalit, she’ll cook my favorite dishes.

She is one of the biggest things I miss back home -- her dishes, her most attentive service, her loyalty and her love.