Jenine: I live for my daughter

My two children Jon and Mika mean everything to me. In Ateneo, where my son has studied all the way from grade school to second year college so far, and in Miriam College Grade School where Mika is turning grade six, my gorgeous husband Paul and I are known for being very active as parent-officers with the respective parents’ associations. All appointments, even with the highest government officials, give way to Ateneo or Miriam Family Days. Meetings with teachers during the distribution of cards are in bold, capitalized red letters in the house calendar. I cancel my dental appointments in favor of Jon’s basketball competitions, even at the risk of another good scolding from my dentist, well-known dental surgeon Dr. Tess Brillantes. Mika’s music recitals (in piano and voice) make me applaud like mad that even the person in the farthest seat of the balcony would know who Mika’s mother is. Both competitions and recitals would give me butterflies in my stomach or near-heart-attacks. Oh, I just love being a mother.

When I did my interview with Jenine Desiderio at Tropezz (Tavern) in Greenbelt 3, I could not believe I had met a kindred spirit — another mother whose whole world is her only child. When she speaks of the accomplishments of her eight-year-old Jea (baptized Janella Maxine Desiderio Salvador), who apart from being a consistent honor student, is very beautiful and gifted with a great singing voice, you can see Jenine glow with pride. When you make an appointment with her, better make sure it is not her daughter’s scheduled birthday party (as was my mistake) since Jenine does all the cooking herself. When you ask for her most memorable experience, it is at an event of a pharmaceutical company where she discovered for the very first time that Jea could sing. As she saw people in the audience moved to tears by her daughter’s rendition of Tomorrow from the musicale, Annie, her hands started trembling, resulting in the distortion of the video of her daughter that she herself was taping.

Of course, I was incredulous at first. Jenine’s sexy demeanor just did not seem to fit the image of a hands-on mother who is almost always perceived to be a desperate housewife: Fat, sloppy, with unkempt hair and nails. In fact, Jenine is the perfect opposite of this picture. I remember watching her concert series at the Boulvar Lounge of the Manila Pavilion Hotel where she wore different sexy and quite revealing costumes that made the men’s eyes almost pop out of their ocular cavities that I nearly ran to catch them with my own hands. At the Tropezz with best friend Dessa, she wore no makeup but every strand of hair was in place with her mini-skirt showing skin glimmering white and smooth, making us girls all green with envy. Life is so unfair.

Although she is still very much into singing and has even branched out into managing a very talented group of four young men, called CUADRO, also gone into publishing (as the publisher of a glossy quarterly magazine called Play! — on gaming, extreme sports, extreme hobbies and travel) and is about to put up her own flower shop at the lobby of the Manila Pavilion Hotel, Jenine’s life largely revolves around her daughter. Her daily routine starts with waking up at 5 a.m. to check on all her daughter’s needs, then sending Jea off to school by 6 a.m. Jenine then goes back to sleep and wakes up later to attend to correspondence, workouts or rehearsals by herself or with CUADRO. When her daughter comes home at 4 p.m., she tutors her. (Sad to admit, Jenine beats me in this regard; I can never be a successful tutor to my own kids, which is why I put up my own tutorial school. No kidding.). She serves Jea dinner at about 7 p.m., and by 9 p.m., puts her to sleep. Important meetings at night have to be scheduled after her daughter has set off to dreamland.

Jenine has never denied that she is a single parent, having been separated from Jea’s father for almost five years now. Jenine says that "of course, we cannot deny the fact that she needs a father and I can never really be a father to her." Sometimes, she would hear her daughter wishing that they were not incomplete as a family, and this breaks her heart. But Jenine tries her best to have Jea grow as normally as possible. "I hope our being incomplete does not have any negative effect on her as a person. I pray very hard that in spite of our situation, she reaches her fullest potential."

Jenine’s great love for her daughter is very clear with these declarations: "I have already stopped living for myself. I now live for my daughter who is my joy, my happiness, my everything. She is my only reason for living. A truly sweet and loving child, Jea is a real blessing to me from God."

As Jenine spoke of her immense love for her daughter Jea, I could see a little girl growing strong, beautiful, attractive, ever-talented, intelligent and confident in herself. She will definitely reach her fullest potential for at least one very good reason: Jenine, who showered her with unstinting love, unequaled maternal care, quality and quantity time, is Jea’s mother.

(E-mail me at [email protected])