It has not been our family’s tradition to celebrate Mother’s Day during the second sunday of May even before I came to existence. Instead, we prefer to celebrate it during a birthday. Since my mother has three sons (I, included), she celebrates her day thrice, on May 9 (Rosjon’s birthday), July 25 (my birthday) and November 21 (Ronn’s birthday). My grandmother told us that our great-great-grandparents believe that during your birthday, thanksgiving should be offered to the woman who had nearly risked her life just to put you into existence and become your “mother”. They got a point, didn’t they?
Since it’s my brother’s birthday yesterday, I’d like to give thanks to my mother by writing this post:
My childhood has been marked with I having a great hatred for my mother. It’s because of the following:
- She’s resourceful. This is the primary and most dominant trait of my mother. She can use all things at hand to do something she wants. In fact, she uses virtually anything, and all things unimaginable – hangers, belts, slippers, brooms, wood sticks – to hit us when we have done something wrong.
- She loves to have us by her side. When we heard “Anak!” coming from her, we rush up to her. She wants us near her so that we could assisst her in light and heavy household chores.
- She wants the best for us. She always explains that education is important and she and my father are working hard just to send us to a good school so we must study very hard. When she said very hard, she meant having medals and awards after the school year. She would be very disappointed if we haven’t had any of those.
But when I started to grow, and develop a sense of maturity, I started to realize that I must not hate my mother. Instead, I must love her because of the following reasons:
- She’s stupid. When I was still an infant, I won’t drink her milk no matter what. But then she insisted to, at least, give me her colostrum before I was bottle-fed. Because of her effort, I was able to receive at least some of the nutrients that breast-fed babies have.
- She wants to get anything she wants instantly. I had a fever when I was one year old. She was so nervous that she decided to bring me to a pediatrician. Night fell and my fever’s not getting any better. She decided to dial my doctor at the middle of night just for me. The doctor scolded her but then she’s happy because I was cured.
- She is over-acting. She acts as my leader, setting examples that I should follow to become independent when the future comes. She acts as my friend, comforting me when I have problems and helping me get out of them. She acts as my teacher, teaching me the theories and putting them into practice. She acts as my savior, protecting me from any harm. And most of all, she acts as my mother, loving me and helping me face no matter what the odds are.
Words are not enough to thank you for what you have done for me. But anyway, I want to tell you that you’re greater than the greatest mom on the planet. I love you.
P.S. Happy Mother’s Day to all of your moms!
