How we’d celebrated Mother’s Day, translated…
We lost our father when we were very young, my mother worked very hard, to raise us all up into adults. Every year around Mother’s Day, we’d always wanted to host a family gathering at the nearby restaurants with her, to have the exotic foods, to show our appreciation to her.
And yet, my mother is a traditional woman, shy in nature, very frugal her whole life, and, she’d not wanted to be fashionable, and turned us down many times, until many years ago, we’d, insisted on celebrating her birthday with Mother’s Day, and that was when she’d, forced herself to attend.
Remembering that day, my mother had the mindset of a child, like a three-year-old chatterbox, described how back when she was young and took care of us, and worked on the sewing jobs. And on the weekends, how she’d gone to the factories of the suburbs, to work as a janitor, to make what she possibly can, to keep the family going. And on the New Year’s, she’d gone to the temples, to volunteer, to offer assistance to those who came to worship.
photo on the famikly from UDN.com…
What she was most proud of, was her part-timing as a matchmaker, she’d worked as the connection between those she knew, and she’d managed to, match up close to a hundred pairs, who are now, all with their own grandchildren too. We got very intrigued in listening to her tell of her past. Turns out, that mom had, lived in the trying circumstances, she’d not allowed the trials of her life to crush her down, which caused her strong personality of never making a complaint when things got tough.
My mother had the problems of soreness of her muscles, and after the meals, we’d gone to the shop, to help her find a massage chair, so she could relax in the comfort of her own home. This was the very first and only time my mother ever went out with us to celebrate Mother’s Day, and after this, because of her age, and her ailing health, she’d become, immobilized, and never came out with us to dine again.
Recalling all of these things in the past, it’s still, very clear, everything is changed now, everything, aged, and it’d left me with, this long-winded feeling of, nostalgia.
And so, because this woman had weathered through the hardships of her life, having to raise up her children on her own, without her husband, it’d toughened her up, and, that was why she’d hated to spend the extra money on things, this is a common value for the elderly population here, because they’d weathered through the hardships of life, they believed that it’s, important, to upkeep the values of frugality, of saving every last cent they have, but this family was lucky enough, to convince the mother to come out with them, at least, for once, before she passed.
Life, the Obstacle Course 