Labada

My mother always scolds me when I frequently change my clothes in one day; “Bihis ka ng bihis dumarami ang labada!” when I wore it for three days, she also nags on me; “Magpalit ka na ng damit, mahirap labahan pagmakapal na yung dumi!” It really confused me; “Nay, pagnagsusuot ako ng damit ng ilang beses, nagagalit ka, pagsinosoot ko naman ng two straight days, nagagalit ka pa rin? Ano ba?” Bottomline is, “Mahirap kasing maglaba.”

And its no joke, I tried washing my own clothes. Results: Wounded hands, exhausted backs, and still, clothes seemed not to be that cleaned. That’s what you expect from an amateur like me. But my mom, when she does it, seems so effortless, and the transformation, from mud-stained jeans to spotless denim.

I don’t know what’s her secret. As I imagined it, the process was very grueling. Separate the whites from the colored, scrub them until stains disappear, rinse it with water, squeeze the water out of the clothes, repeat rinsing and squeezing and then hang it dry. Its pretty arm-numbing but my mother does it flawlessly, not to mention, she does it by hands, no washing machine, no spin-dryer.

I guess its her years of practice, Thursdays, she will sit in the backyard and do her traditional laundry. I tried to offer her to use the washing machine. She will always say no, and will nag me about how washing machine could destroy and loosen our clothes, and doing it manually is more valued.

And its true, clothes seemed to be more clean when washed by hand. Thanks to my mom’s expertise of laundry. But as I think of it, she’s at youth no more, and aging took almost half of her vigor away, her hair gray, her hands bony and weak, her back concave with all the years of stooping in house work.

Despite of the fact that she was weaker than ever, she still continued what she does best, laundry. What can I do? Believe it or not, I sit beside her, get some stuff that are easy to wash specifically not jeans and whites, wash, smile, give her a talk, a company. That’s the simplest way I could say thank you to her. Because if not with all of her work, I won’t learn anything, even how to handle laundry. Besides, isn’t it the cutest seeing a mother and her son washing clothes together? Awww.

I love you mother, and thank you for everything that you’ve done for me. Especially the labada!