someyougiveaway

A few weeks ago, I inquired about admission requirments to nursery at Poveda. Like what Santi and I expected, they informed us that Sofia is a little too young to start pre-school next year. Knowing that our child was up to the challenge (Santi is convinced that his daughter was born ready!), we remained undeterred. Having been advised that all the other parents who asked for a reconsideration were denied, we forged ahead and drafted a letter/pleading addressed to the prinicipal stating our case, defenses--complete with research about the school's history, mission-vision, Saint Pedro Poveda's path to sainthood. At the conclusion of the letter, we had our knowledge of Poveda pat down to its last square foot. We submitted the letter and crossed our fingers. As the days dragged on without  a word from the principal, our hopes of getting Pea to Kinder-1 went from slim to none. We resigned ourselves to another year of toddler school and flew to Boracay to unwind with some friends.

We were in the middle of a tilapia autopsy by the beach when Poveda called, on the last day of procuring application forms, and told us that they are accepting Pea's application to Kinder-1. A wave of pride, joy, victory came over me. It's not so much that our daughter is on her way to pre-school at Poveda--there are hundreds of good schools in Manila to choose from in case it didn't pan out. I was elated at yet another confirmation of a belief, one which I had doubted for a long, long while until that day at the beach while operating on my pinaputok na tilapia.  

Sometimes it's not what you ask for, but the way you asked for it.

Santi and I could have easily turned our backs and tried our luck with another school. Or submitted a pro-forma letter of request just to tell ourselves that at least we tried. We could have written a highly-critical bordering abrasive memo slamming the school's entry-age policies just to make a point. We could have opted to do all these things but didn't. We felt there is a silver lining to those who simply ask.  How hard could that be?

I learned this from Elvie (that's my mom) but somehow forgot it somewhere in law school where people thrive on verbally harassing each other . Matuto kang makiusap, anak. So she said. You stand to lose nothing but just might gain something in the end. I'm tacking this to my Mommy basket of tips to live by.

Now, if only there is a baseball angel I can ask for a playoff berth for my beloved Yankees, I am good for the year. Amen.