It's Time!

by: Maricar Gonzalez

When will I finally have the time and energy to do that?

That was one of my statements during a coffee break with a girlfriend — a rare event in my life that constitutes of a hurried gulp, snippets of chika and recounts of what I have to do for the day.

Let me tell you about myself. I work in one of the multinational firms at the heart (heat is more like it) of Makati. I wake up at 5 AM, prepare my kids’ meals, check if they’ve gotten their assignments done correctly, send them off to school, kiss the hubby off to work and attend to my responsibilities as head of the Retail Department of the company I work for. The rest of my day is a blur of boardroom drama, cracking the invisible whip and a plethora of mind-boggling decision-making, process meetings, brainstorming sessions and surprise! More meetings.

At roughly 6 PM, my battle with the maze we know as EDSA begins and ends at around 8 PM., during which I call Yaya Nimfa to tell her what to cook for dinner. As I arrive home, I kick my heels off and plop myself into the sofa for about five minutes until the kids start making lambing mommy for playtime. After tucking them all in to sleep, fatigue of course becomes history at the sight of them—-until hubby calls me and turns on the charm for a back rub and a massage. I attend to my nightly skin care rituals and drift off to a six-hour sleep if I’m lucky — two if I am not,

Yes, this is my life. AND the vicious cycle starts again.

You see, it’s sort of an understatement to say being a woman — a working mother, in these times. While our husbands toil during the day (God bless them) and dive into sleep after, we toil during the same hours, make sure the kids are taken cared of, the household menus planned, and the financial decisions made and the husband happy. It was about the same time I realized that when the hubby did surprise me one night with the sweetest gift ever. He gave me what seemed like the best gift ever next to my diamond solitaire Cartier ring: a life insurance plan.

The whole idea seemed a little morbid at first, I admit. After all, this was my death we are going to cover! But of course, hubby reasons it’s more than that. But when hubby relayed to me what his advisor friend told him, I finally realized I’ve been denying myself the care I could have gotten from this Sun Maiden plan.

Truth be told, it’s been a while since I’ve declared a real Me, Me, Me Day. I miss not being able to have my pedicure in peace. For a while now, I haven’t had a pedicure session because my fingers are in perpetual relationship with my Blackberry. Some days, I catch myself daydreaming of a weekend locked up in a spa, relaxed and pampered beyond imagination. I dream of not having to do (rather manage, sorry Yaya) household chores and my husband taking charge of the kids’ needs so I can take the break of a lifetime.

While pondering over this, I got to thinking more about the Sun Maiden policy my hubby bought for me. According to Ace, hubby’s advisor friend, this Sun Maiden plan gives me free diagnostic/preventive procedures for the first 10 years, such as pap smears, mammography, ovarian cancer tumor marker and other female-only procedures — on top of the life insurance coverage and financial assistance for female critical illnesses that it has. Oh and there’s a benefit, too, for up to 3 childbirths – and that is more than enough for me!

At least now, I feel secure that I can remain healthy by getting all those procedures done and the financial assistance I have if I get struck by a deadly disease (God forbid!) off my worries (and off my expenses!) . And really, I feel like I’m being rewarded for being a woman-in-charge!

I’m so glad hubby got this plan for me. It just seems logical after all. I take care of my family and work and this Sun Maiden takes care of me.

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Sun Maiden debuts in the June issue of Working Mom with Pia Magalona as its endorser: