UNDYING LOVE

“Parents act so strong for us, that we often forget just how fragile they are”

                                                                                  Curiano Quotes life

We lived in a dilapidated wooden house in the simple barrio that time and we are lucky enough to survive. My mother gave birth to her five off springs and it was hard for her because she got miscarriage during that time and there are few chances to survive but then miracle happened and I was about to born after the near death experience of my life.

I was a 7-months premature baby and I am the weakest and sick youngest child of the family but then my father and my mother protect me with my siblings everytime they teased me for what I am. We lived happy in a simple life even though we are poor still we ate three times a day, we went to school and finished our elementary grades with honors.

 But after our little celebration, we don’t know exactly what went through Father’s mind and he hid his secret after he had a stroke and died earlier in our childhood, the months that followed I saw many changes in our lives, we were forced to leave our home in the barrio and moved to Manila. Mother tool take of us despite her own poor health, she took on the responsibilities of caring us. Seeing her struggle only made us frustrated. My brother and sisters tried their best to help her, they become working students selling fishes in the market, applied in fast food restaurants and other odd jobs just to supply our needs and continued their studies until the day come and I was about to work also in a fast food restaurant but my mother help us to survive, she tried not to lose our schooling. She said that ‘education is a treasure that no one can take us away.”

We made our way, until we got scholarships in school and continued in college. Our friends together with our teachers helped us to earn money for a living even though our mother tried her luck to work in a laundry shop, selling products in the market and other sidelines.

Some years later and my siblings got their new separated lives. They lived in a successful dream with their families but I never leave my mother. We never moved in our house in Manila, the lovely part was, I gave birth to my first born baby and my mother saw how lovely she was. For the first time in my life I feel unexplainable overjoy as I saw the brightness of sunshine shone with the eyes of my innocent looking baby as she opened up her eyes. It was fascinating and I was enchanted with her beauty.My heart sunk a little bit and my hopes and dreams finally come true. I picture out the portrait of a complete happy and loving family and I want to cherished those moments as I am alive. There were several times when my siblings visited our mother we decided to bring some of their favourite things from home. Memorabilia of our childhood memories. While sorting through a mountain of family photos and keepsakes, we laughed at the things Mother had kept, which included Fathers old photos and their wedding pictures. We grew up surrounded by photo shots and pictures. I thought our happiness will never end until later on, when Mother health deteriorated further and she was transferred to a hospital, she was diagnosed in lung cancer and some few hours she will die. She told me to call my siblings for some reunion, she actually missed my father and my brothers and sisters.

So we gather around with her and she requested to carry my first child in her hands. Mother eyes lit up as she stared the innocent black round eyes of my baby. She wants to feel the same happiness she felt when she hold me in her arms the cry of a sleeping baby, the fear of my childhood. I think mother, without really admitting it, felt that the love that had been lost over the years had filled her again through my first born child.

           Lisa my second sister took a recording while Mother told us how much she loved us through the years and she sang a lullaby song to make the baby fall asleep. It made us feel humiliated, it was so heartbreaking and our lives tore apart as we witnessed the agony of my mother writhing and suffered from pain from all those years where we are very poor.

           My heart tried to reject the pain, and I was sucked again and again into a blackness that cut out whole seconds or maybe even forever of the agony, making it that much harder to keep us with reality.

           We lose our mother and we will never see her again just like our father but her memories and love still remained in our heart and soul forever.

           When Mother passed away,surrounded us and her brother and sisters, we are all quietly listened to the recordings of her voice where a first born child gave her so much joy.

It is true that “Parents act so strong for us, that we often forget just how fragile they are” they endured the pain and sacrifice almost their whole lives just to give the needs of their sons and daughters. The sacrifices parents make for their children will have an impact on us when we become parents too. That’s why I’ve done the same with my baby like how my mother and my father treated me for those all years in my growing life. All the parents became the ultimate heroes that defend their offsprings from the enemies and they never gave up whatever it takes to give the importance of education. Such unrequited love and there’s no boundaries, no requirements and expectations with their care and support and I knew from the bottom of my heart that there are no parents that never love their child as from the moment they opened their eyes as they closed it until death.