The Diary Game Season 3 (05-09-2021) | A Story Of My Mother And A Simple Celebration Of Mother's Day

Mother transformed each day into passion and affection, just as a baker transforms flour and water into bread, and God transforms seed and water into flower. She is my paradise, my heroine.

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Today is Mother's Day and I would like to share with you about my Mom. I'll be a titan if I'm even half as strong as my mother. She is a queen in every smile, a wise woman in every thought, and her heart is the source of so much I value. Some people spend their entire lives looking for someone as wonderful as she is, but I am still fortunate enough to grow up in her arms and learn from a soul master. She is a gift to me, a place where I could call home.

When I was a child, my mother was a grade-school teacher in the province of Compostela Valley, Davao de Oro where we lived. She taught for many years until we relocated to Davao City, where she worked in the Postal Service. She retired almost three decades ago on this day. Mom is now 86 years old, healthy, but on her treatment medications. She is half-blind as a result of Retina Macu-Degenerative and has trouble hearing, but she retains a sharp memory. When I'm talking to her, I sometimes have a high-pitched voice because she can't understand or hear what I'm saying. She goes about her daily life. Every day, she gets up early. She washes her own clothes because she dislikes the way I wash hers...hahaha. Well, a dress will take her nearly an hour to wash, while I can do it in 15 minutes with a fabric bar or detergent, rubbing the clothes with my bare hands because we don't have a washing machine because she doesn't like it!

According to her, it will not thoroughly clean a fabric, unlike washing clothes with your bare hands.

She would sometimes cook when she knows that I am doing other chores before my son wakes up. She sweeps the floor after she washes her clothes and does other minor house chores. She looks after my son whenever she asks me to go to the shops to purchase our monthly supplies, maintenance medications, or pay our utility bills, among other things. She would always tell me to come back immediately once I left the house. I make it a point to return in 2-3 hours because she cannot tend for my son for longer than that. She can't lift and carry my son to the restroom to urinate (my son CJ has physical and intellectual disabilities, but he has toilet training) because she's not as strong as she used to be when she was my age.

Do not take too long outside for you know that I cannot take care of CJ that long anymore.

As she grows older, she becomes a blessing to the young, a source of light for them whenever they need it. In bad weather, she becomes the eye of each tempest, the anchor of many warships, but in good weather, she is also the wind. Her story unfolds page by page, and it's a lovely story because she's so loving and nice. Even if the legs only wish, the eyes continue to dance. Though only one's thoughts can still perform, it is one's dreams that strive to do so.

As a result of her advanced age, she now has scoliosis (a medical condition in which the spine curves sideways). She has difficulty walking because she dislikes using a cane, and she has difficulty sitting for long periods of time without the assistance of a wall or a chair.

Some years back when my mom insisted to go out and see her doctor without a companion, she fell down the aisle of the street and got bruises in her arms and knees and a small cut on her forehead. Since then I, my Uncle and Aunts whom I informed of what happened to her, do not allow her to go out of the house without companion. She even stopped going to church. She just listens to the radio on a Sunday and other days of obligations to hear mass. Though she is in pain she does not complain except when she cannot tolerate it anymore.

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Today I woke up at 4:00 AM and prepared a special treat for her. Mom's favorite foods. I ask her to sit on the chair beside the table so that I can take a photo of her but she declines and said she is not comfortable anymore taking pictures because she is not as beautiful as she is when she was younger. I did not force her as it will only lead to an argument ( I know my Mom very well).

I thank God for my mother's presence, even though we disagree, which is natural for a mother and daughter considering our age gap and her circumstance. Mom is my great psychological, moral, physical, and financial assistance to me (she splits her pension with me to cover my son's expenses). I'm not sure how my life with my son CJ would have turned out if it hadn't been for my mother.

Love and take care of your mother especially in her old age. She will always be with you come high or low waters.

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Here's a simple piece of poetry I have written for my Mom:

MOTHER

You brought me to this wonderful world
You carried me in your womb for nine months
You are the sunshine in my teary eyes on saddest moments
Your love is priceless and will always exist

You rise before everyone and goes to bed after everyone does
Works hard for the family and takes care of everyone
You are the one who taught all the moral lessons and values
You are the most significant and influential person in my life

You are the pillar structure in our household
You often restrict us, children, from doing certain things
Your attempt to make us walk in the right path
The embodiment of true love, care, and sacrifices

You plays a very significant role in our family
You become the umbrella when we get stuck in the rain
Your love is like an ocean, it has no beginning and has no end
You are unique and irreplaceable

You are the most beautiful creation of God
Though, not perfect and make mistakes
I treat you with respect and pay you tribute
For you can’t always be full of energy and forever young

Original Poetry by @diosarich

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