Cast of Characters

There are many faces, names, culprits, personalities, that I will frequently mention throughout my posts.  Instead of repeatedly making introductions, providing relational family trees, and unending personality descriptions, I have decided to detail all the cast of characters here:

Husband aka Ever-Patient Optimist aka The Nurturing One:  My Personal Stuart Smalley who constantly encourages, reassures, and pacifies…sometimes with the use of the f-word.  My rock.  Without him, I would never try to see the silver lining or have faith in humanity…and I would slowly starve to death.

Ever-Patient and the Little Prince.

First-born aka #1 aka The Responsible One: The budding athlete I live vicariously through with the gentlest soul, this one keeps me grounded and sane.  Her love of reading and all things handmade make me a proud mama.  She also has started baking and drawing floor plans.

#1…growing too fast.

Second-born aka #2 aka Strong-Silent aka Miss Determination: The quiet mastermind with the focus and discipline of a five-star general, this one loves alone time.  “Practice makes perfect” is an understatement when it comes to her.  Give her some string, a pair of scissors, a glue stick, and the contents of a recycling bin, and  our little MacGyver can re-construct any object.

Steady as a rock.

Third-born aka #3 aka Fabulous aka Dancing Queen: This future Vegas showgirl, or Tony-award winning Broadway-bound triple threat, depending on the quality and extent of parental guidance (no pressure!), knows what her best light is and ends every task with a curtsy.  This one is known for referring to mama as “My Lady” and frequently memorizes storybooks after two reads.  This should come in handy for all those future auditions.

Sparkles.

Fourth-born aka #4 aka Mini-Me aka The Rookie: From her cheeky smile to the way she loves her back scratched, this one is so frighteningly similar to mama.  She runs things.

Still adjusting to not being the youngest anymore.

Fifth-born aka #5 aka The Golden Boy aka The Little Prince aka Daddy Jr.:  The only boy AND the youngest.  God help the woman that tries to even talk to this one.

Delicious.

My Father aka The Saviour: This soft-spoken superhero has thwarted parental meltdowns and saved dinnertime fiascos (with the help of our local Congee eatery).  He is able to take the 4 girls out anywhere, change diapers, clean-up vomit, and smile simultaneously.  (He claims that he’ll be able to take all 5 out by the end of the year!)

My dad and his mini-me.

My Grandfather aka Lolo Harv: My children affectionately call him Lolo Harv because he likes the restaurant “Harvey’s” and they don’t know what else to call him since they already have a million different “Lolo’s” to keep track of (Lolo meaning “grandfather” in Tagalog).  The fact that this 91-year-old retains a sharp tongue, classic wit, a killer sense of humour and can still work a fedora, lessens my fear of aging.

Gotta love a good sport.

oh…and me aka as The Boss aka Mama:  I write this blog to remember and to keep sane.  I also like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.