Sunday, May 14th, 2006
Happy Mother’s Day.
Happy Mother's Day to women across the globe, whether you have children or not.
Like many mothers, my mom shows a lot of her love for us through food. She's forever telling us "eat. eat some more."! When she's not busy working 20 hours a day at the sewing company and/or at the farm, she's in the kitchen. Some of my best memories are holidays. Every Chinese New Year she gets up at sparrow's fart and prepares an elaborate feast. I always woke up to the smell of delicious pastries, stews and steamers. Then wander into the kitchen and stuff myself silly (not often as we were very very poor and we couldn't afford anything but average meals to fill our tummies most of the time). Despite the lack of luxury of any sort, she did not fail to shower us with homemade food from the heart.
Mom likes to tell stories of when we were babies/kids. Her face would light up and she recounts events as if they happened just yesterday. She often tells me the story of when she weaned me, or what a good sleeper I was when I was a baby, or how I ate so many bananas that one time until I threw up. It's been nearly 30 years since she gave birth to me, yet the events are crystal clear in her minds eyes. You can tell how profoundly proud she is of her children.
She made many many sacrifices for the sake of her children. She (and my dad) left her mom, brothers and sisters, friends, and went to a place so completely different from everything and everyone she knows, so that her children can have a better future. I honestly cannot say where I would be if that didn't happen. Maybe working 20 hour days somewhere in the countryside on the other side of the globe…
When I was undergoing treatments for hodgkin's, my mom dropped off everything and came to stay with us for several months to take care of me. While hubby was at work, she kept me company and made food for me for the three hundredth time that day because I puked every single previous ones out. She helped clean the house, do dishes, laundry, and gardening. She made comfort food and took them to treatments with me. She let me cry and complain and whine while she just held me tight. I was hurting physically (from treatments) and emotionally (from lack of supportive friends) but I'm very sure she was hurting a thousand times more than I, but she didn't let me see that. She was and still is my pillar of strength.
The biggest sacrifice she made was to have me, her second child. You see, I was born in China, in an era when the One Child Policy was just starting to get propagated. My mom was 5 months pregnant with me when the Authorities came by to "ask" her to go have an abortion. She and my dad went into hiding at a relative's house until birth time. She did give birth at a hospital (government-owned) and her tubes were tied immediately upon delivery, without asking her. It was scandalous not to follow the Authorities and to risk having the second child, especially since they didn't have any means to pay fines. They did anyway, most likely having already fallen in love with the baby-to-be (me). This single act of choice leaves me forever indebted to my parents, without any sense of forced obligation on my part.
Mom, thank you for being you, thank you for everything you've done and continue to do for us children. There is nothing stronger than a Mother's Love. Happy Mother's Day. I love you.
on Tuesday, May 16th, 2006 at 3:46 pm:
What a beautiful mother you have!