the wonder that is mom

Over the receiver I heard mom sigh. She said it was the day before mother’s day and she was alone. Her two kids thousands of miles away and her own mom a thorny 5-hour drive away. If Hary and I were home I imagine that we would buy her a big bunch of flowers and tempt her to take a day off from her perpetual diet. But for more than 10 years now we have never been close enough (geographically) to do so. And so today, on mother’s day I have decided to give mom the next best thing- a bouquet of words and a generous spread of the little things that make us love her so much 8)

We love mom because she treats age like a traffic enforcer- merely a prop to guide you and  not something to slow you down.

We love mom because no matter how old we get, she always treats us like we’re 12 – forcing us to eat and telling us to take a shower, even though we are full-grown adults.

We admire how mom multi-tasks: reading an email with an andrea bocelli cd in one hand, an apple in the other, chewing while yelling at for someone to set the table.

We admire how she can shift from flawless English to heavy, accent-dripping Ilonggo in the blink of an eye.

We are joyfully amused at how such a smart woman beams with pride after discovering how to change her Facebook profile picture; how when asked the model of her cellphone answered, “SMART” and when asked the OS of her laptop, answered “IBM Thinkpad”.

We are glad she did not have the patience to sit down and tutor us high school biology (nor chemistry, nor algebra, nor physics, nor geometry…). We learned to survive in UP.

We love how at 5 she made us start to vacuum and wash dishes. Today we keep clean kitchens.

We love how she forced us to give up Saturday morning sleep to clean the house (yeah right!). Today our houses are shipshape.

We love how in primary school she started to give us monthly allowance to budget ourselves and how she insisted that I give her a financial report (complete with receipts) of my monthly expenses when in college I told her my allowance wasn’t enough. Today we know how to manage our resources.

We are thankful she didn’t spare us scolding and lectures when we needed them. It taught us well.

We appreciate how mom read to us and rewarded us with books when we were young- it taught us the value and wonder of the written word.

We love mom for showing us how hard work pays.

We love how humble she is- no matter how high she has reached on the corporate ladder she still seeks our advice – and follows it.

We love her because the ways she trusts us has taught us that we are capable of great things.

We are eternally grateful for her prayers . She was the angel who introduced God to us.

We love that she is a friend who know how to laugh with us.

We love that she has been both mom and dad to us.

We love that while she is our mother, this role does not solely define her- she is in herself a creative, independent, fun-loving, spirited woman.

We love that she gives us guilt-gilded calls a day before mother’s day…it makes us realize that she is indeed worth our time and gratitude. And it teaches us how to honor

And so mom, even though we are far away, this was written-neither out of compulsion nor guilt but out of our desire to appreciate you and make you happy today- on mother’s day, because we know you want the same thing for us, every single day. Happy mother’s day, you’re the best!

- Mian, Hary, Malou & little Beckster

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