She, is Your Mother

not my photograph…

Translated…

Every weekends, my husband would head out before noontime to play a game of Mahjong with his friend; and my mother-in-law would come over every other month, and brought over the lunch for the next day for us—a serving of fish plus the vegetables and rice she’d prepared from before.

Because no matter if it was the weekend, holidays, of days off, my husband was never at home, and during the daytime, if I’d gone out, then, in the evenings, I’d had to, rush home, to prepare the suppers, we’d rarely had any take outs. Sometimes, I’d gone out after lunch, and, as I’d still wanted to thumb through the books at the bookstore, I’d had to leave; and every now and then, on my way home, or as I’m cooking the suppers, my mother-in-law would call, telling me that she’s not coming over. And there were, several more times, that as I’d prepared the meals, and, she’d not shown up at all, and as I’d called to ask, she’d told me, that she’d been out all day long and had forgotten about supper. And, although I’d cooked the foods for myself too, but the level of softness as well as the salt was different, and I’d made more than I could finish too, and at which time, I’d always resented my mother-in-law for not calling earlier.

Eating with my son, it’s, a whole lot relaxing, the roadside food stands, the breads, or something spicy, everything is fine, because my mother-in-law had complained of how my sisters-in-law prepared excessive dumplings, on the days that she’d shown up for lunch or supper, I’d not dared just, broiled up the dumplings, no matter how hard a day I’d had, and so, I’d felt unhappy because of how I felt so restricted and limited.

not my photograph…

That evening, I’d wanted to make my husband responsible for cooking the meal for his own mother, I’d begged him, and took his silence as he agreeing to it, I’d actually just, gone out all day and not hurried home, so he could shoulder the responsibilities for making the meal for his own mother and himself. He couldn’t cook, and so, he could only take his mother out. Although I am already retired, I’d waken up every morn at six to make the breakfasts, grinded up the beans for the coffee, and allowed my husband who’s still working to sleep in for a bit; and for the suppers, I’d made the meals while he was working out on the treadmills and as he’d showered afterwards, so he will have a hot meal for him after he’d come out of the showers.

I’m sure, that it shouldn’t be easy for him, but hey, I’d wanted to train him a bit, how could his own mother be the responsibilities of his wife? I’d worked for thirty plus years now, and there is still, a very long road ahead, and must I, be the stay-at-home cook who’s never allowed to travel, or go places ever?

I’d decided to up the frequency, started from once every two weeks, to once a week, after all, although I’d no longer needed to work, but I’d still needed time to breathe, plus, my dearest husband, she, is your mother too!

And, so, this showed, how just because we are women, and are retired, that doesn’t mean that we should take over everything in the households, we’re NOT responsible for cooking ALL of your meals, because we women too, needed time to rest, we deserve our days off, because we’d earned it…