The other birthday girl

I know at least five people who share my birthday with me. One of them is my grandma on my mom's side, Mommy Ted.

In the morning, she crosses the street and goes to 7-11 to have a chicken sandwich and coffee. "This is my vitamin," she says to me, referring to her sugar-free black coffee. The blood pressure of whoever she stays with goes up, because of her diet. She loves pork. I doubt she'd enjoy being our house because we eat mainly fish and veggies.

Mommy, as we call her, is as feisty and stubborn as a reed-thin figure at 80 as she was at 13 when she started smoking. It was the Japanese occupation then and she smoked cigarettes to escape the smells of the farm. Now she smokes to kill time. She prefers Fortune because it is cheap. "I'm not fond of Philip or Marlboro. Mahal."

We seem poles apart. Siopao is one of the few things we agree on. But she's my lola and she's unique.