IN THE NAME OF MY MOTHER

Little successes fuel the creeping mortal need in us to claim credit for them. When we score our small triumphs, we’re tempted to say, I did it myself; I am self-made. It takes a while before we see the real picture.

In my world, and I’ll venture to take it a bit further, I’ll speak for my sisters as well; What I am is what my mama made me; What we are is what my mama made us.

There are these humble advances to talk about only because my mother had the courage, widowed, by herself, and under the direst of circumstances, to pursue the single most important agendum in her life; our future.

We have built our lives far from the bleak prospects her situation then would readily suggest, because she had laid the foundation for us to build on. We have it easier, because she had done the backbreaking work so that we would not have to. We have it tidier, because she had done the dirty work so that we would not have to soil our hands the way she did.

My mother did not see the enormity of the challenges ahead of her with four of us in tow and her teaching alone to draw resources from; she only saw the ineluctable duty to provide for us.

She showed us how she lived her life and allowed us to learn from it. But she would never tell us how to live our lives. She respected our individuality. Life was no one size fits all for her.

Like most mothers, mama would always think of herself last. Like most mothers, she would not think twice about scrimping on herself if only she could splurge on what little “luxury” she could afford us. Like most mothers, she was self-abnegating.

Like mama, most mothers are all these things. Sadly, these heroics are often taken for granted; unrecognized; unacknowledged. Still, we seldom hear mothers complain or whine about it.

Let it be no longer. Now, join me in saluting all the mothers in our lives in a shout-out

“HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!”

Thank you for making life easier, exciting, and for lack of better term, all worth living.