Just curious how everyone edits their photos in Lightroom 😅
Do you usually apply the preset/filter first and then do masking, or the other way around?
Trying to figure out what workflow makes more sense and gives better results.
She grew up in a home where she was never the priority. Laging nauuna yung mga lalake sa buhay ng mom niya. Boyfriends before her own daughter and daughter’s safety, no matter what. I’ve seen it myself. Kahit nung LDR pa kami ng fiancèe ko, her mom would message me out of nowhere, talking badly about her own daughter, painting herself as the victim.
Her mom is someone who would slave away cooking for a batugang boyfriend while letting her own daughter go to school on an empty stomach. Walang baon, walang pagkain sa bahay. Kaya madalas, ako yung nagpapadala ng baon niya kahit student lang din ako nun na nag si-side hustle, para may makain siya.
Nung sinabi niya na gusto niya mag-aral sa Ateneo, her mom laughed at her. Called her “feelingera.” Told her to just settle for a public school because they “couldn’t afford it.” I told her na i-take niya pa rin yung entrance exam, I’d cover the fee. I believed in her even if no one else did.
She passed. Full scholarship.
I’ll never forget that. I’ll never forget how proud I am sa kanya.
At 18, kinabukasan after ng birthday niya, nag apply agad siya sa BPO so she could support herself sa pag-aaral niya. Akala niya makakahinga na siya kahit papano. Pero hindi. Wala pa rin halos natitira sa kanya dahil pinasalo na rin sa kanya yung bills at food nila kasama yung batugang boyfriend ng mom niya. Kapag nagyaya yung mom niya kumain sa labas at hindi niya kaya? Sasabihang madamot.
She spent her whole life in survival mode.
In our early 20s, I asked her to move out with me. She said yes immediately. Nag rent kami sa apartment for almost 4 years, malayo rin sa family ko para fair sa kanya. Even then, she couldn’t fully cut her mom off. Inintindi ko muna dahil alam kong she was still holding onto the idea that maybe, somehow, things would change, lalo na kung magkalayo na sila.
Even from a distance, the guilt stayed. That "survival mode" never really turns off when you’ve spent your whole life being a mother to your own mother.
This year, we finally got our own house. It’s close to my family, and madalas bumisita yung mom ko. She cooks for us, checks on her, treats her like her own child. One time, my fiancée told me, “Hindi ko alam may ganito pa lang ka selfless na nanay sa anak nila.”
I just laughed and told her, “Anak ka na rin niya noh. Anak na nga tawag niya sayo eh.”
Last week, I borrowed her phone and noticed something, her mom and some relatives were blocked.
When I asked her why, she just looked at me with a look of peace I’ve never seen before.
She said, “Para saan pa? Ubos na rin naman ako matagal na.”
Then she looked at me and said something I don’t think I’ll ever forget:
“You’re my family now. You made me feel safer than she ever did in my entire life. Your family showed me what it’s like to just be a daughter… hindi yung kailangan kong maging magulang sa sarili kong nanay. May konting guilt pa rin oo, but… I didn’t know peace could feel like this.”
I didn’t know what to say. Niyakap ko lang siya nang mahigpit.
Because that was everything I ever wanted for her, to feel safe, to feel loved, to finally rest.
And hearing her say that… it broke me in the best way.
Some people grow up with love.
Some people have to find it.
I’m just grateful she found hers with me.