How someone celebrated Mother’s Day, translated…
My mother lives a simpler lifestyle, she’d hated the rowdiness of the huge crowds. Every year before Mother’s Day, the news media would enforce the values of treating the mothers out for meals and buying them things, she’d always read aloud her own declarations, “Treating the parents kind every day that’s what’s important, the point is not in the expensive gifts, or the grander dining experiences, you guys already did that, and I’m, more than, satisfied here.”
the photograph of the writer and her mother on this trip they took together on the bicycles, photo courtesy of UDN.com…
My mother’s words were “seriously spoken”, and I’d, dared NOT “ignored the meaning of her words”, but, in this celebratory time, putting my mother on ice, I’d just, not felt right, but, how do I show my appreciation for her, without, going against her will?
Ah, I know it! I shared the common bond with her in cycling. I won’t treat her out for the huge meals, nor would I give her the expensive presents, I’ll, take her on a trip by bicycle to celebrate then.
On mentioning the bicycles, I’d felt more blessed than ever! My mother is already eighty, but her sense of balance and agility when she is on a bicycle is, amazing, doesn’t pale by comparison to me, who is at sixty years of age.
Returning to my mother’s place of birth, that, was our route, it’s also, my thoughtfulness, because who doesn’t go for nostalgia? Especially as we’d aged, we wanted to be closer to the people, the things that we knew from when we were younger.
My grandmother’s home at a township five kilometers out, and her childhood home already, collapsed; but that hill out back, still green, the river close by, still sang its songs, it’s just, that as my mother told, the wideness of the river was reduced by a whole lot.
My mother became an excited child, pointed to that tree, told me she used to doze off under it, then, pointed to the slopes, said that there was a well there, that she’d gone to fetch the water daily. Seeing how animated she’d become as she’d told me the stories of her childhood, I’m truly glad, that I’d, done it right.
I’m a blessed older child, because I still got the opportunity to ride bicycle with my mother, whether it be on Mother’s Day, or regularly, it’s all, very, precious.
And so, this, is how this woman showed her mother the appreciation, the love on Mother’s Day, and, they’d not spent a whole lot of money on the trip, and still made many wonderful memories, seeing her mother reminisce over her childhood years…
Life, the Obstacle Course 