Perfect Mom

Living was hard.  In the morning, mama used to wake us up to go and take a bath and then eat our breakfast so we could head for school.  No one left the house without eating whatever mama prepared for us.  I remember refusing to eat because I was so fed up with instant noodles and mama wouldn't let me up and get my bag.  I had to eat and finish what was for me.

Mama never allowed us to go to school with empty tummies.  Why?  because she never sent us to school with money in our pockets.  No money for food, only for icewater.  So we had to eat breakfast and bring our packed lunch, else, we had to stay.

After school hours, we were demanded to go home as soon as possible and do our assigned chores- fetch water from the well (river), wash dishes, cook dinner, pick the goats from the grassland and clean the house.  After dinner, we had to do our school assignments and then help her make barbecue sticks or weave baskets.  No one should sleep ahead.  Everyone must be helping if not studying and finish what was set for us.

On weekends and summer vacations, mama would bring us all to our farm wearing our jackets, long pants and hats, to protect us from insect bites and sun burns.  Each one of us were armed with bolos and grub hues.  We planted corn, mongo, okra, eggplants, string beans and peanuts.  And we harvested them ourselves and sometimes, with the help of a few neighbors when corn harvest was good.  We tilled 4 farms.  Two of which were around 1200 sq.m. and the other two were around 2000 sq. m.  We used to till the 2 smaller ones ourselves and hire a few persons to clean the bigger ones.  But we fertilized the corn plants ourselves on all 4 farms.  When it's time to wait for the harvest, we shifted to making firewoods and sold them.  We had to cut branches of the trees, cut each to make 15-inch sticks, dry it, group and tie each 15 sticks and carry it to some place where someone would trade each bunch of wood with Php0.50.  From what we earned, we usually bought kilo/s of corn( if we haven't harvested yet) and dried fish.

We walked to and fro school.  That was about 2 km away from home.  No budget for jeepney fare which was, I think, Php1.50 that time.  But we never complained.  We understood why it had to be that way.

Mama was simply a housewife (now, she serves the barangay).  But on top of her being a housewife (one who fixes the house, washes/irones clothes, cooks for us, and the like), she was a farmer and a businesswoman at heart.  She reaped fruits and vegetables from our farm and sold it in the market leaving the house at midnight and reaching the house at dawn, before all of us woke up, and thus, preparing our breakfast without us knowing that she had arrived. 

Mama is an intelligent, tough and hardworking woman.  She brought us up to live with only the simplest things in life and thus, there are a lot of things I could live without.  She taught us things in life especially those that money can't buy.  She shaped us into who we are now.  She made us see that what we do today will be the cause of what we become tomorrow.  She is a good leader.  She teaches us not to focus on what we do not have, instead, on what we have and do something to have what we do not have. 

My mama had a tough experience in rearing us because, financially, they were not ready.  And she didn't want to beg for help from my grandparents.  She got tired and I know there were lots of times when she wanted to give up but she never did.  She's a strong woman.  She stood by what she had decided and she always stood for what is right and pleasing. 

She tirelessly and endlessly envelopes us with love even if I know, at times, she's tired especially while fighting against the many trials surrounding us.

I just love my mama.  And don't ask me why, for me, she is the perfect mother there can be.  She has proven that by raising us the best way she could despite all odds.  And I think, what we have become is exactly how she wanted us to be.  What we have become is our gift to mama.  Whatever we do, we always consider what mama will feel-whether or not mama approves of it. 

Happy Birthday Ma!  You're the best!   

I fear I won't be as good as you when I become a mom myself someday.