When You Hit The Turning Point

August 09 was the turning point for me. It is when my ex-housemaid got caught sneaking the things she stole from our house and ended up in jail.

I was awaken up by the sudden tension burning in the house, but little did I know that this is where years of relaxation and being served ended and the path of troubles and chores began. My siblings and I used to count on our housemaid to do this or that for us. If there was something missing, the maid will surely know where it is or how to find it… Something goes wrong at home, and she'll fix it. That's how dependent we were on her.

After this dramatic act, my parents wholly agreed on not letting any maid set foot in the house because of what happened earlier, and to that, my siblings and I objected strongly. How the hell were we going to live? Did they want us to die out of starvation?
Though the answer was crystal clear and we were blindfolded on the mere fact of accepting it: We are going to relay on ourselves from now on.

Days of complaints began…I would do the work I was assigned to do with such disgust and tiredness. I even faked sickness all the time to avoid any chores that would ruin my day's agenda and make me ache all night.

My mother accepted this with a warm and patient heart, filled with regret for somewhat spoiling us for the past years. We were not trained to cook, wash the dishes, clean the house, do the laundry, etc… We were trained to simply wait for all of these to be set for us. I thought of this as a punishment at first…and was furious on the fact that my mom was putting the blame on us. It did not seem reasonable to me; why would she do such thing when we are her little dearest? WHY?

We worked full-time around the house, cleaning or washing, it did not matter as long as the house shined with perfection. While working, we complained, complained and complained endlessly till reality hit us: It is going to be like this for as long as we live. So we can run away this time but we cannot hide forever.

Soon (though I could not imagine we would) we adapted to the current situation. We agreed to work without being told to. To help with others' assignment as it means the same thing at the end; get the job done and that's that.

In these past eight months we learned the importance of responsibility, self-respect, co-operation and most importantly, self-discipline.

Note: If you are wondering if my ex-maid is still in jail, then yes, she still is in for a year and a half.