A LOVING mom during the day transforms into a hardworking woman by night.
She is Axel May Clapano, 22, a resident of 49 Dau St. Monte Maria Village, Catalunan Grande, and a mother of a two-year-old handsome, healthy boy, Adam Axelson.
Axel is working in Offsourcing Philippines right after she finished a degree in University of Southeastern Philippines. She works from three a.m. and arrives home at one p.m. to take care of her son.
"Apart from providing my son's daily needs, I also want to help my mother and my two sisters," Axel said, when asked what keeps her going.
Axel is the eldest among four daughters of Emilia and Alexis Clapano. Axel's mom was the one who reared all four girls after the couple separated.
It was remorse at first when she figured out that she was pregnant at the age of 19. Axel felt scared for breaking her promises to help her family when she finished her studies.
“I thought of it as adding another problem to the family which was broken when my dad left,” Axel said.
She has since seen the light. Her dream of becoming a teacher had to take a backseat as she chose to work in a company that could compensate better, enabling her to provide for the one's she loves.
“I wanted to teach since my course is AB-English major in language. But I’d rather work in a call center to fit all my expenses,” she said.
She gives a substantial portion of her pay to her mother to tend to the family.
"I work hard to give my mother what she always wanted. It's my simple way of giving back to a strong woman who never failed to support us," Axel said.
From her dream of becoming a teacher, Axel's new objectives in life is to let her son finish his studies in a prestigious school and to build a home with her partner.
What made her more amazing is that, she is hands-on in teaching her son, from the basic alphabets, names of the animals up to the complicated numbers despite her very busy and tiring job. There are times that she even neglected to take care of herself, being torn between being a mom and a trustworthy employee.
"I need my job because I love my family, especially my son," said Axel, unveiling that being a mom and a worker at the same time is not an easy task.
She was once a university beauty queen who was envied by girls and desired by many boys. But she turned her back on the glamorous life and settled for a stretched-marked belly and plus-sized dresses, only to embrace a chance of a lifetime of becoming a mom.
"I'd rather look like this and earn, than to look beautiful but my son could not have want he needs," Axel said, who was once a consistent honor student and the class a valedictorian during her grade school days.
She might encounter a myriad of rainy days in her life but Axel keeps her feet on the ground for the love for her family.