The Proposal
“I’m gonna ask one more time. Will you be Mrs. Vince Hizon?”
It was just like in the movies. A teary-eyed and overwhelmed Patricia Hizon was caught off guard when her then boyfriend of just nine months, PBA player Vince Hizon, knelt down on one knee in the middle of a basketball game and in front of hundreds of spectators, asked her to be his wife.
It’s surprising to think that it’s been over a good eight years since that day, and the same blissful feeling still envelops the couple.
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How they met
Patricia “Shaan” Hizon, who started out as a newscaster back in 1999 during her early 20s, would eventually take on more sports-related stints in the coming years. Not many people know it, but Shaan actually grew up in Montreal, Canada. You wouldn’t notice it now, but years before, she even had to take Tagalog lessons for her anchoring jobs just to speak better Filipino.
Having grown up exposed to basketball because of her father and brothers’ involvement with different Filipino leagues, it’s no shocker that the sport has pretty much shaped her life. Surprisingly, though, she didn’t actually meet her future husband through basketball, but through an exchange of business cards.
Shaan is President and Founder of the Everyday Is Your Birthday foundation, now 11 years old, which aims to give kids from orphanages, homes for the sick, the elderly, and even shelters for the abused a more meaningful birthday celebration. What’s great about the foundation is that it thrives entirely on donations.
Vince’s foundation, on the other hand, is the Vince Hizon Foundation, which puts up computers and library centers around the country. “All of these are in poor communities and schools that definitely need it,” Shaan explains. “Apart from that, his foundation also focuses on the protection of the environment.”
“They do sports, they do education, and they do environment. Basically a lot of environmental work which is now also his line of business. He runs a company that is basically in charge of the city garbage. They do everything from hauling to MRF to sanitary landfills and all of that. So he keeps himself pretty busy, plus his company does a lot of flagship projects for local governments. They build schools, they build sports complexes, they build cemeteries. They do everything. It’s like a consultancy firm that has everything under one roof.”
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Love Blossoms
So, as luck would have it, both Vince and Shaan had their own charity organizations, and the exchange of cards was purely business. “It wasn’t like a physical attraction,” recalls Shaan. “I found him to be more attractive after the whole foundation thing. I mean, there are so many guys that you would drool over. But when he showed me his card, and we talked about what we were both passionate about, that to me was the sexy part. That was the attraction part.”
It would take another year before the two would cross paths once again, this time to model together for an eyewear brand. And then the rest, as they say, is history. “After our photo shoot, that’s when we started dating.” The two discovered a similar sense of humor, and because they were both passionate about what they were doing, aside from their shared love for sports, everything just fell into place.
Before the proposal, the couple got to meet each other’s family in the States and in Canada, which further deepened their love and admiration for one another. “Vince would always say that that was when he realized I was the one that he wanted to be with because he saw how I was with his family and how I was with mine.” Patricia shares with a smile. “I also saw how he was with my family, and for me it was very important for him to be getting along with my siblings. His relationship with his parents said a lot about his character, and that made him even more attractive in my eyes, the fact that he’s very close to his mom, he’s good with his siblings, very respectful (he’s the youngest).
“We never really had a conversation to talk about wanting to spend the rest of our lives together. It was an unspoken thing. It was very comfortable,” Shaan relates. “So when he proposed to me, although it took me a while to answer - if you look back at the tape, it was really like a four-minute to five-minute thing - it was as if your life flashed before you. I really was put on the spot because I never really thought about it up until that time, that moment, so I was really shaking when he asked me and I’m glad I said yes, because look at my kids now, they’re so wonderful.”
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On Family, Her Career, and Pregnancy
Shaan is now busier than ever, looking after her husband and two adorable boys, Vicente, 6, and Paul, 4, while heading the advocacy and marketing for Maynilad, managing her flourishing foundation, anchoring in PBA games and the PBL. Did we also mention that she also updates a blog and is active on Twitter? She also plays several sports, from basketball, swimming, volleyball, cycling, to Judo (and lots more, actually). This is why she still stays in shape even after two pregnancies, which Shaan describes to be fortunately uneventful.
“With Vicente, we didn’t have maids or yayas so I was the one still cleaning the house. I think it was on my 8th month, I was mopping the floor and I fell, and Vince was like, ‘Okay! We’re getting a maid!’ So we got a maid a week after that.”
Shaan’s pregnancy could not defeat her love for staying fit. She tried pregnancy salsa and would even run. Like any other pregnant woman, Shaan turned to books to know what to expect and how to deal with the changes in her body. They even took Lamaze classes with Rome Kanapi, would listen to the baby’s heart with a monitor, and listen to classical music. “I read that it’s healthy to read to your baby, so then I’d always read to my tummy. So cute. It was a really cute and healthy pregnancy, especially the first one, ‘cause we were in the States, there’s really nothing to do, so all Vince did was baby me all throughout.”
She was still pregnant with Vicente when they came back to the Philippines, and while waiting for her due date they took the opportunity to attend parenting seminars and listen to the experts so she could better handle her pregnancy.
They didn’t ask to know the baby’s gender so they dressed the nursery in neutral colors, she adds.
During her second pregnancy, with Paulie, Shaan was even more active. “I was still going to the gym up until my 7th month and I would work on the treadmill.” Through it all, Vince was at her side. “I would never go to the gym by myself; I was always with him. He was always monitoring me, and he would give me light exercises.”
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Shaan also recalls that during her pregnancy with Paulie, she was doing a daily show, "Vente-Singko", on TV5, where she even announced her pregnancy on her fifth month, when the baby bump was already starting to show.
“I was also doing PBA Radio at the time because I couldn’t do courtside, because they didn’t want the ball or the athlete to fly and quash you,” Shaan remembers. “I would do PBA radio, and that was the first time a girl had ever covered PBA radio. I remember covering the finals while I was 8 months pregnant, and I would have to stand up and breathe because I would have contractions during coverage.”
Now, with the boys all grown up, Shaan shares how she can manage to wake up, shower, get dressed, prepare the kids and bring them to school all in 30 minutes tops before heading to the office. “I usually have a driver, or I’m the one who brings them to school and drops them off, so instead of taking a lunch break, I take a 45-minute break here, and a 45-minute break there, and I stay at my desk during lunch, just so I can pick them up and bring them to school. It’s super taxing, but it’s all worth it. That’s part of it.” Add makeup time to that!
We just had to ask, how does she do it? Shaan says busy moms like her should make sure to set aside time for themselves. For instance, she runs for at least 20 minutes every day (her personal choice for "me time"). When it comes to her diet, Shaan also shares that she has refrained from eating rice since December 2010.
Making the Marriage Work through Coordination
The key to making the marriage work, Shaan shares, is really coordination. “We make everything fall into place. It doesn’t happen naturally. There’s a lot of effort on both our parts. Vince and I, we usually have a sit-down meeting. We really meet about our schedules for the rest of the week.”
“We're like a team, you really have to make it work like that. You can’t take anything for granted, you can’t take anything lightly, we’re always on our toes. There’s a lot of respect on both our ends. He respects what I do, therefore he values my time. I respect what he does, and I also value his time, so some people say, ‘Ano ba ‘yan, bakit may schedule? Shouldn’t you just be together?’"
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Shaan, being a passionate breastfeeding advocate, shares how Vince was such a supportive husband whenever she would nurse. “We would feed in the middle of the night, we would feed whenever and wherever. He would be the one to carry and cover me like that.”
“Even in our friends’ house, because you know, I have no shame, I will breastfeed anywhere. Vince would pull up a blanket; he wouldn’t be apologetic either. Because some of the husbands, ‘Ay pasensya na, nakakahiya.’ For him, ‘Hey, is it okay if we feed our baby here?’ And most of the time of course they’ll say yes. They’ll either give us a room, but even then, Vince will go with me, he’ll cover me, he’ll wait, and then he’ll carry and burp the baby after as I clean myself and get my clothes on.”
“He was very supportive in that sense and going back to that story, sometimes he would be the one to wake up at night and bring the baby to me so I could nurse. Or, because I was starting to have carpal tunnel, he’d be the one to carry the baby. I would sit in front of him, he would be sitting on the bed, leaned against the wall, I would sit in front of him, I would prop myself against him, and he would be the one to carry the baby. Even though we had a pillow for proper positioning, he’d be the one to hold the baby. It felt really good, and he made it easier. It might sound boring to people, but it’s not. It’s such a huge challenge to be able to do that.”
Part of her breastfeeding advocacy is to promote the idea of just how cool breastfeeding is. She wants to raise awareness on how more cost-efficient it is and how the benefits last even until adulthood.
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Love and Faith is Key
Strengthening their marriage is attributed largely to them having turned to the Christian faith. “We became Christians just last year. Of course there’s a lot of respect, there’s a lot of coordination, but there’s also support for one another, that’s the main thing.”
“I do so many things, and he does a lot of things also, but at the end of the day, we end up helping each other and give each other support. That for us is very important to the marriage.”
Another important factor to keeping the marriage healthy is to organize her priorities and put Vince first. “I want to make sure that I prioritize him. So if he needs me for something important, something big, something special, if he’s gonna have some people for dinner because there’s a dinner meeting that he’s going to be hosting, I have to drop whatever it is I’m doing because that’s part of it. That’s what makes the marriage happy.”
“I had to re-adjust my priorities because a household can’t be happy if the husband isn’t happy, because the wife won’t be happy, and then the kids won’t be happy. When I realized that, and I accepted it, everything changed and became even better.”
When it comes to the romance department, Shaan and Vince still make sure to spend time together, just like a regular boyfriend-girlfriend couple. “We even sometimes go out clubbing, can you believe it? We’re not young, and we see a lot of highschoolers that go clubbing. So then we just go to the right places on the right days at the right time. That’s just heathy. It’s just fun. We still do the fun stuff. We still drink together. We don’t lose control or anything like that. We play golf together. We compete.”
Would you believe that even up to know, they still celebrate their monthsary? They make sure to text each other something sweet or nice to each other. Vince also makes sure to compliment Shaan all the time on how beautiful she is, whether she’s all made up or even just in her running gear without any makeup on.
Not to say that their marriage is perfect, of course. Shaan shares how there are times when Vince comes home from work so stressed, and a fight may ensue between the two of them.
Their faith, of course, is also an integral fiber in keeping the love alive. “We have a regular Thursday Bible study group which we never miss, that’s just the two of us. That for us is very important especially because we’re with other couples who have happy marriages and who have found Christ also. That for us is very good for our relationship, to surround ourselves with the right people.”
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The boys: Vincent and Paul
You could also say that the demands of raising two growing and energetic boys does work wonders for her fitness as well. “This is a loud household. There’s a lot of laughter that goes on in this house. It’s screaming, but happy screaming, like ‘Kuya, find me, I’m here! I’m downstairs.’ It’s a very fun and active and vibrant home. I guess that’s just a reflection of how we are as people.”
In fact, during our interview, we got to see just how animated and affectionate her two boys are. The moment they got home, they each had their own stories to share with Mommy.
Vicente, the eldest, is currently in senior prep at a progressive school. It’s what you would consider the counterpart of prep in traditional schools, while Paul (or Paulie, as he is affectionately called), is in vertical, the counterpart of nursery.
As Vicente shows his mom a greeting card he made (“They always give me cards,” Shaan says. “We still give each other letters and stuff like that.) and Paul calls mom’s attention for the sports headband he’s wearing, we just had to ask if Vince and Shaan have any plans of having another baby.
“I’m stopping for now because I realize when Paul was born, I just felt really bad for Vicente,” Shaan shares how it wasn’t initial brotherly love between the two. “I felt that he wasn’t happy. He didn’t like Paul, he didn’t like the baby at first. He would take the bottle and drink Paul's milk.”
“I think for kids to get along, they just have to feel secure, and I think that for anyone, for you to have that kind of confidence, you have to have that sense of security, and Vicente was kind of threatened with the new baby around. We had to change our style and basically we had to give more attention to Vicente when Paul was around.”
Shaan’s obviously in love with her kids, despite the challenges. “I’m having so much fun with the two!” she says. “Maybe later when our lifestyle and our careers have settled a little more, maybe then we could think of another one, but for now it would be unfair for the kids.”
The couple is also examining first just how emotionally prepared the boys are for another sibling. “Vicente had just started asking for another baby. Paul doesn’t want. He wants to be the baby. So for now we have to also take into consideration how ready they are. Honestly I think they are. We’re very happy being just us four.”
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On Child Discipline and Their Parenting Style
When it comes to their parenting style, Shaan says she and Vince try to stay as close to their natural selves as possible. “We’re definitely very fun parents,” she says. “We’re the type who would crawl under the table because the kids would like to play under the table. We spend a lot of time playing with them. We get down and dirty, we get muddy with them. After school, we’d play outside and run outside, we have races outside. I guess it comes natural to us to be very playful.
Becoming Christians has also helped the couple in terms of their discipline style. “Our parenting styles have definitely changed,” she attests. “We read the Bible to the kids almost every night. In the car, what we play are Bible story videos or songs. If the kids do something wrong, instead of getting mad at them, we just say, "Ephesians". Just one word. And then they change their behavior. Because we made them memorize and understand Ephesians 6:1: ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is his right. “Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise)” so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth.”
“That’s our parenting style. We might be a lot of fun, but we really try to go back to what the Bible says, and we do go to a lot of parenting talks. No one’s an expert on parenting. All of us are parents. We all have different ways to do that. We do hope we inspire others to take up their own parenting style.”
Photography by Ben Lim
Make-up by Carmel Villongco
Hair by Ian Lipa
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