remembering how mom dressed me every august.

I no longer have any photographs, but my mother used to dress me up in a Filipiniana every August of my gradeschool life. She had to slip folded tissues in its collar and armholes because the pinya cloth irritated my skin and made me uncomfortable. Like a tickling-scratching sensation that I could feel run down my spine, and made me freeze in place.

As a child I never fully understood why we had to do that. I hated it; dresses made me feel detached from my body and how I looked. Midway, I dropped the skirts and switched them for the red Katipunero pants instead.

Buwan ng Wika (National Language Month) in 2016, when I was taking an elective on Child Development.