When Tatay Met Nanay

Those are my parents pictured above. I don’t have the honor of having two gay dads like Rachel Berry in Glee, so that should narrow down the options. My parents met as twenty-somethings in the early 1980’s at the tail-end of Ferdinand Marcos’ rule in the Philippines. They were introduced by a mutual friend and the courtship began shortly thereafter.

In this picture, my tatay invited my nanay to be the muse for his basketball team. It’s hard to describe what a muse actually is. My nanay said a muse is “not a cheerleader but she cheers the team,” which kind of makes sense (not really)? Paola and I tried to define the muse’s role and came up with “part cheerleader, part beauty queen, part mascot” with the duty to inspire the group or team. Muses seem to be voted on by a group or compete in pageants for the title of muse. It makes me think of a Pilipino uncle belting Chicago’s ballad “You’re the Inspiration” on karaoke.

So, my tatay pretty much asked my nanay to be his inspiration. And to this day, my nanay still holds the title of muse in my tatay’s eyes.