IN THE ARMS OF ARMS

Out of the blue, Kenneth and I were resting in one of the seats at the Yubengco StarMall when suddenly my son grabbed my ear and whispered, "mama, mama, I think I know that lady there."

I looked around trying to find the lady Kenneth earlier pointed. But I think I missed her.

So I asked him who was she? "yung bang Philippine Idol, andun siya, tingnan mo mama," pointing near the icecream booth.

There I saw Armarie Cruz, Zamboanga's bet for the Philippine Idol but managed to reach the top 12.

I turned to my son and said "si Arms yun anak," watching my son's face got so excited but when I called Armarie, he got so shy and tried to hide behind my back.

I feel so glad not because I was able to talk to Armarie in person (di naman ako mahilig sa celebrity) but am happy to see my son staring closely to the not so stranger as he maintained a following for this show until Armarie got evicted.

My idol is Mau Marcelo, his is Armarie Cruz.

For the sake of my son, I asked Armarie how I can communicate with her and even introduced myself as one of the correspondents of the Philippine Daily Inquirer so she could stay a little longer for picture taking.

Am elated when she granted my request but I was shocked to see that my son prefers to have a long chat than picture taking.

For info, Kenneth is a typical boy who wanted to be the star of the show, and objected to photo shoot if he is with somebody else including me, "gusto niya, siya lang at wala ng iba sa photo frame."

Anyway, at least my son has another encounter that he excitedly shared with his yaya Jainab soon as we got home.