My mother in law's 100th birthday is a good way to start off this year's Cyberjournal run. Okay, so a bit of time has silently slipped past since my last cyberjournal, —but what is that compared to a hundred years of living on this planet? Born on 7 January 1906, Caridad Morente Pineda grew up in Pinamalayan Mindoro, then obtained her Bachelor of Science in zoology at the University of the Philippines. Twice nominated to a Barbour scholarship to Michigan University, her old-fashioned father would not allow her to make the overseas trip. She was Manila Carnival's Miss Mindoro in 1927. She married lawyer-landlord Jesus Pineda and moved with him to his farm in Concepcion Tarlac where she readily picked up the Kapangpagan language while raising six children.

Caridad survived the car crash in which her husband tragically died in 1972. She then devoted herself to apostolic work as a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic where she served as prioress for two years. At age 98, she suffered a fall that required a hip operation from which she happily recovered: a smiling survivor if ever there was one. I asked her what it feels to be hundred, and she covered her face with her hands and giggled like a little girl exclaiming to me: "I can't believe I am one hundred!"

Every chance I get, I interview her on video, take photos, and sketch her. How many persons do you know who are a hundred years old and are still lucid? For Irene's video camera she sang "Pregunta a las Estrellas" a song she says she probably learned from her mother ( I have scribbled what my ear can catch of her voice on tape):

Pregunta a las estrellas
si por las noches me ven llorar
Pregunta si yo busco querer te en la soldedad
Pregunta al manto rio si el llanto mio lo ven correr
Pregunta a todo el mundo si no es profundo mi padecer

No olvides nunca
que yo te quiero
que yo me muero por amor por ti...

As I have never known her to sing anything all these years, it must be some special sentiment that somehow clings to her memory bank. Here are just a few images of her 100th celebration and her quiet, simple life today.