DemocraSay

In response to How has your view of your mom changed?.

For as long as I can remember my mother was always doing what she was doing – cooking our meals, supervising the cleaning of our house and washing the clothes, sending us children off to school and my father off to work, taking care of us while we were sick, teaching us to sing and telling us bed time stories.

She does this everyday of her life without complaint or signs of getting tired or bored with the routine. Because she was very efficient and consistent at taking care of us her children and my father, we thought this was natural and normal for all mothers.

I remember a time when she got sick and I refused to visit her in the hospital because I was disappointed and angry. How come she’s sick? She is Mama, she’s suppose to be strong! The following day she was discharged from the hospital and was brought home. Everything went back to normal.

In my late 20’s I got married and got pregnant. After nine months I gave birth to a baby boy. In the middle of the hard pains of labor I realized how very strong indeed is my mother. I am almost dying (or so I thought) from the severity of my labor pains but come to think of it my mother went through the same experience six times. Six hellish times and she still came out strong and sturdy.

The thought gave me the determination to see it through birth. After the final push and I heard my little boy wailed and I touched his hand, all the hard pain of the last 11 hours paled to insignificance. This must be what my mother felt when she first held me.

When I saw my mother after the experience of birth my heart overflowed with reverence and gratitude for the tiny woman who has taken cared of us all through the years. At the same time I was feeling shame and regret for taking her for granted – for not realizing that she is a woman . . . a person with her own needs that she selflessly set aside in lieu of making everybody healthy and comfortable.

They say pregnancy and birth are life changing experiences, true indeed! When became a mother I saw my own mother in another perspective. I saw her sacrifices and her devotion to our family. For this I am forever grateful. It is true when they say that even if a child will give up his/her life for his/her mother he/she can never ever fully repay her for everything that she did starting off from giving birth to nurturing till that child becomes fully mature and able take care of him/herself.

I know now that even if how many times I become a manager or an executive as a career woman I will never be able to surpass the achievements or shall I say the greatness of my mother as a homemaker. This lesson keeps me grounded and supplies my motivation for humility.

My mother is in her late 50’s and my family realizes that the end is inevitable but at least we are grateful that we are given the chance to make up for lost times. At every chance we get we make our mother feel special and loved and we see to it that we say thank you for even the tiniest things she does for us.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mama. I know that I will be a good mother as you have been to me and my siblings.