Warning: This is a very personal post.
My mom has been working in the US for about three years now. She flew there a couple of years after her retirement. She had been working tirelessly for the government for most of her life. Starting out as an elementary school science teacher in an obscure town, she dreamed big and took the exams for NYMC (TESDA at that time). She clinched top two, the batch's top one being a UP Economics graduate. When she told me that story, I believed that everything is possible.
Yes, folks, although I show hate for my mom most of the time on the internet, I really really love her like any daughter in the world would like to. When I was in elementary school, my mom was studying in AIM, then got another course in DLSU when I was in high school. She was studying on Saturdays while working as Division Chief in the Bureau of Labor and Employment. She was still studying God-knows-what even when she got transferred to Land Bank. She never stopped learning. My mother would constantly tell me that my brain would turn into a can of worms if I stopped learning something new each day.
But, the other thing my mom always reminds me of, is to have all your bases covered. Luck favors the prepared. You know how an elementary teacher got top 2 in a national exam? She got everything - statistics, surveys, and related literature - everything about employment, reviewed her ass off, then brought all her notes to the exams. Turns out, the exams was OPEN NOTES.
As she told me about her life (a couple of dozen times), she would always tell me to help people when I'm able but that doesn't mean I would get help when I needed it. My mom's a middle child but acted like the first born. She is assertive and she knows what she wants, even when she doesn't know how to get it at first.
She spent some than a month here in Manila last month. I asked her, during that time, why she was so intent on going to the US? And she was so intent, at first, that we go there and work. She told me of my grandmother, who would always wish that she can bring them all to America, during the 1950's. The U.S.A. then was the land of milk and honey. That was my grandmother's dream and she was fulfilling it for her. I felt my heart pounding with guilt. I thought, what was my mother's legacy to me? What did I have to fulfill for her?
I racked my brain for about 10 minutes and thought of nothing. She may force us to go to Sunday mass, but she defended me when my high school English teacher called her to school because I wrote to the Goddess when asked to make a prayer. She told me it was okay if I wanted to leave teaching and take up marketing. She calls me fat when I wore skimpy outfits but cooks rice for 10 people, even if there were just the four of us.
As cheesy as this may sound, my mother's legacy is pure, unconditional love. And I hope I can do the same for her and for my future children.
If you like this post, you might want to subscribe to my feeds. Just type in your email address below and you'll receive my blog updates in your inbox.
Read more...
Posts
