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“ninong, how do you like it?” she asked, sashaying in front of me still in her school uniform as I was watching the news earlier this evening. silence from me. I didn’t know what she was talking about. definitely not the uniform, what’s to like about that? I didn’t know what to say. there was an instantaneous frown on her face, her lips slightly pouting. oops, I thought. my fault. then I noticed her new haircut. “oh, it’s beautiful! something different for a change,” I blurted out. actually, the haircut was hardly noticeable but I had to say something though it wasn’t exactly what I meant. my instincts were ringing bells inside my head to say something to avert a tantrum, and judging from the smile on her face, I guess I just saved first base. whew!

angelica is my niece (that's her in blue), the middle child of my younger brother. she has always been like that, always needing assurance. probably because she is the middle child, or probably because she was born barely a year after her older sister. she always craved attention from us, from her grandparents most specially. strictly speaking it’s her older sister who is my godchild but they all grew up calling me ninong. turning fifteen later this month, I can hardly believe how fast she and her siblings have grown. I can still remember talking them to the mall on weekends, or almost daily during the summer break. she and her older sister, monica, would run to jollibee as soon as we entered the mall. that was always our first stop. after eating, we would go to the arcade or to storyland adventure where they would ride the rides to their hearts’ content.

she proudly says she looks like her lola, my mom. and it’s true, that is exactly how my mom looked when she was angelica’s age. in fact, when we compared my mom’s old baby pictures to hers, she really looked like my mom as she was growing up. her morena features, those dark expressive eyes, the height she obviously inherited from my mother’s side of the family! she brags about this endlessly, and even boldly exclaims that she will also be a miss UST when she goes to college!

“I like britney spears!” she exclaimed some months ago. “she’s my idol!” she added. we tried dissuading her to no avail. she was adamant. britney is her idol and that’s that! the stubborn streak in her kicked in again. she would spend endless hours on the internet surfing through things about britney. we would hear her humming her idol’s familiar tunes. then one day our prayers were answered. seemingly from out of the blue, she outgrew britney. she cared less about her idol. wow, that’s nice, we thought. at least she had stopped idolizing that irresponsible, mentally questionable girl. a sigh of relief. then the next day she made an announcement. she has a new idol, it’s paris hilton! my heart stopped, and my brother almost passed out!

but no matter what happens, whoever she idolizes, we know that she is a level headed girl. she was brought up that way and she will stay that way. it’s just a passing fancy, nothing to be serious about. at almost fifteen, she is still our little girl. the thoughtful child who never forgets to say “I love you”. and she’s slowly blooming into a young woman.

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