He is Bert; she is Nita.
Both were young when they ventured Manila.
He's from Carles, Iloilo; she's from Anao, Tarlac.
Both came from poor families,
He took some vocational courses in electricity;
She dreamt of being a midwife.
But because they have no means to continue their education,
both ended up working in a cotton factory in Makati.
There they met; there they fell in love.
After a long courtship, they wed in Loreto Church in Sampaloc.
I asked my mom why her gown was 'bitin';
She said: "I was on slippers when the sewer measured me;
She forgot that I'd be wearing high heeled shoes."
It sounds funny now, but I realized how my mother must have been upset
That her gown was 'bitin'.
Yet in her wedding photos, she never showed her desperation.
She was aglow and beaming. So does my father. Handsome in his 60's look.

I thought we were well off because we
didn't rent our house in Mandaluyong. We owned it.
Only later did I realize how difficult it was
for them -- although both employed -- to keep both ends meet.

When the factory they were working in transfered operation
in Antipolo; we too went along with the factory.
Three times did we change houses.
I used to wonder why everytime we transfer house,
it was always at night and we leave some of our belongings.
'We'll return for them tomorrow', my father used to say.
I realized later that we transferred house only at night
because we can no longer pay the rent;
and we leave some of our belongings as payment to our debts.

They taught us well.
We called everybody 'tito' and 'tita', and always used 'po' and 'opo'.
We were always bathed cleanly and our clothes, although hands-me-down from relatives,
were always freshly-laundered.
Until high school, my father was the one cutting my hair.
I thought he dreamt of being a barber;
I realized later that although he has money to buy us food,
he really had none to pay for my haircut.

Life's been kind for both of them.
He is double seven now; she seventy-three.
And I'm certain there'll be more years to come to both of them.

Oh there's so much to tell about them.
And I'm sure they too have lots of stories to tell too.
I promise when I get home again, I'll listen.

To the two people from whom I owe
everything that I have,
and all that I am, thank you.
You are the reason why I survive this life.