The Security Backrub

In April 2006 my husband and I went to the United States without our kids. We left our two boys with my mom and dad. We were there for one month, which seemed like forever, as we missed them terribly. We called them everyday. We couldn’t enjoy Sea World at San Diego because we wished the kids could be with us. We told each other, we will never leave them behind again.

Whenever we called them, my mom would tell us how she would bring the kids every week to the toy store to buy new toys for them, but with a budget of 100 pesos. (A little over 2 US$.) My mom never spoiled our kids with expensive toys. She would also buy french fries and hamburgers for them at Jollibee (our local hamburger chain) or McDonalds. At night, the kids would sleep between Owo (how my older son pronounced Lolo, Tagalog for Grandfather) and Owa (Lola, Tagalog for Grandmother).

When we came back, the kids were healthier and heavier, maybe from all the Jollibee and McDonalds they had! My older son especially had rounder cheeks. When we came back from the airport, they ran to us and we hugged them for a very long time. When we were about to sleep that night, My older son said, “Mommy, may you massage my back? Owa always massaged my back every night before I slept, when you were in the States.” Both kids asked for “Owa’s backrub” for several nights since we arrived. I realized that the backrubs had become their security blanket when we were away. It was Owa’s way of making them feel the love of their Owa and Owo and their mom and dad.

To this day, I give the kids backrubs when they have a hard time falling asleep at night. It never fails to relax them and lull them to sleep. Every time I rub their backs, I remember “Owa’s backrub” and thank God for Owa and Owo.

_____________________

I wrote this for our "family book", a tribute to my parents, which we gave to our Mom and Dad for their 40th wedding anniversary last Dec. 31, 2007.