I’ve just had one helluva week. Our reliable househelp went home to Bicol for her yearly weeklong break, which means I had to personally take care of every chore in the house. Thankfully, we hire another person to do the laundry and she showed up as scheduled last week.

The Sunday before I had to plunge into my chores, I finished the first session of my driving refresher course. That was quite a workout, but miraculously I still managed to get up from bed as early as 5AM even if my arms and legs were aching all over. I prepared some breakfast, washed my son’s clothes and did some little cleaning. My hubby offered help in washing the dishes and looking after our son while I get busy with other chores. But once my hubby left for work, I had to jump from my cooking chores (not an easy task for me since I seldom cook) to keeping our house in order, and then jump again to attending to my son’s needs. After I’ve put my son to bed at night, I had to clean up the mess he made the whole day, and then wait for my hubby to arrive and wash the dishes after he’d finished his dinner. After that, I’m practically dragging my feet towards the bed.

By middle of the week, I may have perfected the art of cooking rice sans a rice cooker and have been successful in cooking dishes such as nilaga, sinigang and tinola. But I was also dead tired already. My son has started to become cranky for having forced to play by himself most of the time while mommy is busy in the kitchen. That’s when I decided to ditch my chores for a while and brought my son the mall to have lunch at McDonald’s. The following day, I skipped my cooking chores again for one meal and bought Jollibee meals for dinner.

I hardly took a break. Even while watching the AI Season 7 finale, I was simultaneously doing two or three tasks. By Friday night, I felt like I was bound for sickbay. So imagine my shock when my hubby came home that night and told me he has sore eyes. Lucky me!

Over the weekend, I had to juggle my time more because I have driving lessons to attend to, and I had to guard my son from getting too exposed to his sick daddy. I’d bring my son to my folks during my driving sessions then pick him up again after. Back home, I’d attend to my chores again like a robot. I refused to sit even for a few minutes because that’s when fatigue would start to set in, and I couldn’t afford to let that happen until my chores are done.

When I finally went to bed on Sunday night, I thanked God for helping me get through the week. I also prayed that our helper would keep her promise to come back by Monday morning. When I heard the alarm the next day, I jumped to my feet to start my day. After a few minutes, my prayers were answered. Our helper walked back in, and I’ve never felt more relieved! Though I was tempted to go back to bed at that instant, I went on with my chores to allow Manang to freshen up after a long trip. I can take enough rest later.

The week that was made me ponder about how lucky I am to be living here in the Philippines; only here can I have the luxury of a reliable househelp who takes care of majority of the chores while I take care of my son, and of family members who would willingly babysit for my kid when I can’t be around for him. It sure is tough living abroad without these special people lending an extra hand.