Linda Enriquez Panlilio
To my dearest daughters,
I never told you three how to be good wives and mothers. On the eve of my wedding, my mother wrote me a sentimental letter telling me she loved me and hoped I would be happy with my husband. She advised me to be a good wife, but did not tell me how to be one. Well, neither did I teach you. I thought you would best learn by example.
Now that I amold, I can only look at you and congratulate you for being better wives and mothers than I ever was.
You are both hands-on mothers, unlike myself, who, in my hurly-burly years of combining marriage with work, left you in the hands of
yayas whom I merely over- saw. One thing, though, you certainly took to heart my admonition to be financially independent of your husbands, lest they take you for granted.
I had seen a few of my girlfriends who were miserable when they could not get out of a failed marriage be- cause they needed the financial support of their spouses.
I have given you the best education so that you can earn your own keep and not have to rely on your husband’s income. Heaven forbid that you should become a doormat. Give value to yourself.