REVISION OF SOPAY KOMA

Maria and I had been secretly dating for 3 months when we decided to get
married. My parents refused to give us consent due to my brother's marriage. Maria was
self-proclaimed lesbian and despite having relationships to women, she fell in love with
me. Maria was the one who took all the responsibility in managing our wedding-filing the
license, buying the rings, looking for venue, finding the Judge, and paying for
everything. There were unfavorable circumstances in the quick ceremony of the
wedding, such as me presented an empty box of rings. The judge joked that there was
already a deposit in Maria's womb and the reception was not grand. We couldn't live
together right away because it could be a mystery. Maria continued to live alone in her
apartment and pretended to be from Manila.

I believed that once the baby is born, my mother would accept her as the mother
of their grandchild. When the baby was born, they decided to move into the family home
for the presence of the half-Igorot baby. Maria had a black dog named Sapay Koma, but
the 5 other dogs did not like me. So I decided to invite my friends to put Koma out of my
misery, but Maria locked herself in the bedroom together with our baby. When it was
time to eat what they cook, Maria was not asked to partake in the feast but still did it as
a sign of respect to my culture. There is a time when Maria confronted me about the
bread; I explained that everything belongs to everyone in Igorot culture. Maria took a
permanent marker and wrote her name on the next loaf bread. Maria noticed the photo
gallery in my parent’s wall and suggested that we rent a gown and tuxedo and have a
photo taken so we could finally have the wedding wall. I wrote a letter to my family and
they accepted Maria as part of our family. Since all the misunderstandings between my
parents and Maria are resolved, we plan to have a church wedding to renew our vows.
Despite the obstacles we have been through with our relationships, we prove to them
that we are worthy. There may be times that we think that we should end our
relationship because of certain circumstances, but we didn't give up to give our children
the complete family that they deserve.