An ode, to ALL mothers in the world, from the writer’s encounters of caring for his mother at the hospital, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
The present I give to my mother on Mother’s Day is a wash of her hair.
My mother is ill, she’s at the hospital for treatment. I’d gone to visit her at eleven in the morn by the clock. The moment I set foot in her ward, determined my mood for the entire day. If she’s still, lying in bed in the day, and clenched tight to the railings of the bed, with her I.V. filled arms, my heart would, sink. But if, she’s sitting up, then my heart, afloat.
My mother’s cognitive abilities are, gone, and she always asked the same questions, “Had you eaten yet?”, “Do you have enough money?”, “How’s your wife?”
“What do you want to eat?”, I’d asked her.
“Anything is fine”.
The upbringing, the education that my mother had given to me, it’d, allowed me to give her anything she wished to have to eat, only, that she’d not, needed, any physical materials anymore.
And, every now and then, when she’d not answered me, “anything is fine”, then, that was the high point of my day.
“my head itches!”
That was, the most, exciting thing I’d heard her say ever.
There is, the hair washing services for those immobilized, provided for them in their hospital rooms. It was Sunday, and, I’d called the operator, but nobody answered. I’d run to the salon in the basement of the hospital, found that the ladies’ department is off. I’d felt disappointed, but not given up yet, ran to the men’s to inquire. “We’re, completely booked, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow!”
The following day, I’d fed my mother her lunch early, then, wheeled her outside to get some air, and, kept giving her the forecast, “You are getting your hair washed today!”, like it’s, a good news of sorts. She’d, used the logos posted on the walls, to boost the patients’ energies to have them exercise daily, “workout everyday!”, “Energized everyday!”, “Great!”
We’d returned back to her ward, I’d put her in bed, Ms. Lai the hair washer came right on time. She’d, skillfully, moved the bed, so she could stand at the front. She’d brought in two buckets, one empty, to catch the soapy water. The other was filled up with water, to rinse off the shampoo.
“Does grandma need her mask on?”, Ms. Lai asked me.
“Yeah!”, I’d stated. Ms. Lai took my mother’s mask off from behind her ears, then, used the tapes, to stable it around her cheeks.
She’d started, shampooing, scratching my mother’s, head.
“Harder!” my mother told her. Then, “the water’s too hot!”, “it’s now, not hot enough!”
And this won’t do, that won’t either, her reactions got me, excited. Yes, my mother is still, aware.
After two rounds of cleaning, Ms. Lai took up that plastic hose, and started, rinsing.
“Grandma’s more sensitive toward the heat of the water, I’ll go get some cold water then”, Ms. Lai took that scoop into the bathrooms.
The water that flowed from the hose was, thinned, but steady, the soapy water came falling into the bucket next to the bed, like the gratitude that flowed through, my heart.
“Thank you, Ms. Lai!”
“I’m so embarrassed, to be, making the money off of you at times like this!”
After the rinse, she’d, put the strings back on my mother’s ear, put her mask back on her face, then, used her single hand, picked up two hair dryers, and, blew dried my mother’s hair.
My mother’s white hairs flew up in the air, she’d, closed her eyes now, it was, the very first time she was, so relaxed since she checked in.
As Ms. Lai took all her gadgets out the room, I’d asked my mom, “Did it feel good?”
“Yeah, it feels, so very, good!”, she’d, hoorayed. The following second, she’d immediately recalled, “You hadn’t, paid her yet…………”, then, my mother who’d been, frugal her whole life stated to me, “Tip too!”
Outside, I’d followed my mother’s, instructions, and then I’d asked, Ms. Lai, “Do you have any children?”
“Yes!”
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
Caring for one mom, we need, the multiple mothers: Ms. Lai, the foreign nurse, the aunty who’d cleaned the hospital rooms, the physicians, the nurses, my wife, my eldest sister-in-law………………
Hope that all the mothers will receive, a Mother’s Day present this year.
And so, this, is the writer’s understanding, from caring for his own aging mother who is, hospitalized, and, he’d noted, how many other professionals other than the doctors and the nurses are there, to help her mother with her stay at the hospitals, and, thus, he became, even more appreciative toward women that he encounters in his own life.