FEATURE STORY There is nothing quite like a mother’s love

03/20 MOTHER SUPERIOR

Who doesn’t have mom issues? This month, as MEGA celebrates our annual Power Issue, we also celebrate one of the most powerful forces: love, specifically from one of the most potent sources, our mothers. We seek their affection, their validation, even as we recoil when we realize that we are turning into them. Mothers. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Which brings us to one of the more unique aspects of Philippine culture: our yaya. For generations, many of us were raised by second mothers, the woman who lived with us and took care of us, so that our biological mothers could pursue careers, take time out for themselves. In recent years, our brand of mothering has become so desirable that we’ve exported it to other countries. For our yayas, the sacrifices continue, even as the triumphs ascend. As we grapple with the changing times, the realizations that took decades to become tangible, we turn to the simplest relationship, between a second mom and a child, now a grownup, and the complications of this love in Relationship.

Motherhood, of course, is rife with so many emotions, many of them contradicting, flavoring our lives in ways that we can’t imagine until start doing it by ourselves. In Food, we sit down with the Nina Daza-Puyat, a food editor and writer, whose mom, the iconic Nora Daza, set the rules for countless Filipino dinner tables. Daza-Puyat’s yearlong odyssey to update the legendary Let’s Cook with Nora, talks to us about heritage, tradition, celebrations and family.

Lastly, we turn to Feature Story, where we delve into the dark side motherhood’s journey. Far the from the picture-perfect moments heralded on social media, there lies a darker world, one that is filled with emotions unfit for the idea of the serene, saintly mother.

Mother. Mama. Mom. Nanay. Here’s to you. Here’s to us.