LEAVES OF GRACE: No Lipstick for Mother: The Backstory

5/18/2023

No Lipstick for Mother: The Backstory

On Mother’s Day this year, my mind traveled back to my book, No Lipstick for Mother (illustrated by Kora Dandan-Albano and published by Hiyas of OMF Lit), which I wrote to encourage children to be proud of their mother.

It was written before I started blogging so I have not yet shared its backstory. It is no coincidence that I am narrating it only now. The person (wedding godchild, dear friend, and faith brethren), who inspired the book, suddenly went home to be with Jesus last month. Ironically, he was a father and not the mother who stars in the narrative. But the fact remains: this was written to honor him.

Caloy had been a faithful member of our church for a long time. He was one of the very few who knew the Bible like the palm of his hand. If one had any question about anything in the good Book, “Ask Caloy.” He was also a poet—his reflections were in verse form.

ooo

One hot summer day years ago, before entering the church for the service, I saw him parking his tricycle. Sweat streamed down his flushed face.

“It is difficult these hot days to drive a tricycle,” I said.

He replied, “That’s nothing, Ninang, compared to how I feel about what I overheard children were saying about tricycle drivers."

“What’s that?” I was alarmed.

“I wish papa would find another job. Driving a tricycle is so embarrassing.”

Embarrassing?! I screamed the word silently.

“That hurts more than the sun, the dust, the fumes, and the punishing hours,” he said.

I was just as hurt. So I did what I like doing best: I wrote about that story. In the process of tweaking, I changed the tricycle driver to a mother (at that time, there was one woman tricycle driver in our village) and used lipstick, which is familiar to every kid, as a metaphor for beauty and to convey vivid imagery. I sent the manuscript to the Palanca Awards and it won first prize in its category.

Hiyas had the story re-told in Filipino by Dr. Luis Gatmaitan, a Palanca Hall of Fame awardee.

On Mother’s Day, I thanked God for the life of Caloy, the father who inspired a mother’s story, which by grace, will likewise inspire children to be proud of their parents, who are willing to go through any hardship for their sake.