dailygaelley

It’s an internationally-known fact that mothers are the best people in the world. In the Philippines, they are known as the ilaw ng tahanan, which translates into “light in the home”. This belief stems from the fact that without mothers, no one would exist. The sad truth is we often take all their efforts for granted.

Last Aug 5, 2017, I was lucky enough to be invited as one of the lifestyle bloggers to cover Sunlife Financial Philippines’ Mom’s Day Out event. I’m no mom, but they included titas with nieces or nephews aged 7 below.

The event was advertised as “A stress-free day at the spa with talks on self-care and money management” and that’s exactly what it was.

The registration was outside the Durian room of Park Inn. I signed up and was immediately met with a bag of goodies and an envelope containing gift certificates from Nail-a-holics and Hair Philosophie by Jing Monis. Attached was a stub for a 15-minute Dry Back Massage from Elysia Wellness Spa. I hadn’t even gone inside the room and I was already getting pampered!

What welcomed me into the hall were comfy lounge chairs arranged and decorated so beautifully:

Chairs were also arranged in front of the hall for the actual program.

At around 3:00, mommies started flocking in and decided to claim their massages. It was a an interesting sight. I felt like I was in one of those slumber party/spa nights you only see in movies. Mothers were chatting with their friends while the masseuse lined up behind them. It was fascinating to see how relaxed these moms were being.

After the relaxing 15 mins we all spent with the masseuse, we were invited to partake in an afternoon merienda by Park Inn.

After all that great food, we sat and welcomed the first speaker. Mrs. Michelle Alignay, a registered psychologist, guidance counselor, part-time lecturer, author, speaker, mom, and wife—-(wow, that’s a lot), talked about how mothers need to relax sometimes and how that’s totally okay.

She talked about how the word “MOM” stands for Masters of Multitasking, which really cracked me up. It doesn’t make it less true, though. I realized that I sometimes don’t give my mother enough credit and immediately felt bad about it. As a possible future mother, I can see myself embracing Ma’am Michelle’s philosophy. However, as unexpected things in life are, I know that when the time comes it may be a different story. Nonetheless, her talk about motherhood was insightful and inspiring.

If ma’am Michelle talked about how to guiltlessly relax, the next speaker brought all the mommies into reality and talked about her life as a mother of three and as Mindanao cluster head for SunLife Financial Philippines. Mrs. Mylene Almonte.

Ma’am Mylene, a mother of three, talked about SunLife Financial’s My Future Fund, which was designed specifically to meet the rise in tuition fee in the next 18 years. It is no question that the K-12 program has put numerous parents worries through the roof because of the additional financial dilemma it imposes. The program allows parents to save for their children’s educational fund. The best thing about is that it is not only exclusive to educational funds.

Here’s a tear-jerker from their facebook page!

My afternoon was relaxing and insightful. I am sure that the mommies enjoyed theirs was, too.

Thank you, SunLife Financial!