(My Mother, Your Mother, Our Mother!)
On Sunday, May 11, we will celebrate a day full of hearts, as we honored the greatest women in our lives on Mothers’ Day. Let me share some facts about my Nanay (Mother) that not everyone in our community knows.
My mother is called Edith, Aling Deth or simply Nanay, but her real name is DELITA PARONI SAN RAMON. She is 62 years old now and a surviving spouse as my Tatay died in 2010.
Sharing about her past, she was born in Tacloban, Leyte. Unfortunately there are secrets in the family that up to this moment that are not yet revealed in the whole clan.
Since childhood Nanay was not cared in by my real Lola (Grandmother) because of the fact that she is a love child. My Lola met another man when my real Lolo (Grandfather) died, so, my Nanay was left in the custody of my Auntie. The most painful part of it is the truth that up to this moment, my real Lola still treats my Nanay as her sister, never her daughter. Anyway, since then they never lived near from each other.
Living with this drama on my mother’s life, I pitied my mother so many times. My real Lola is still alive and already a widow from her second husband but still living on the lie and saving her face from the shame of having a child from her first husband or I am not sure, boyfriend. My Lola has three more children, but out of these three, no one knows the reality that my mother is their half-sister. As well as, our cousins don’t know that they are our cousins; the only thing they know is that we are Facebook Friends or a long relatives.
Another story on the past that I discovered is that our eldest brother, Michael is a son of Nanay from another man. I knew this since my Brother Michael rest with God when I was just 10 years old. As the saying goes, history repeats itself, but Michael is lucky, my father accepted and treated him as if, he is his own child. Michael was baptized and registered after my father’s name.
On the brighter side of things, I believe that her experiences as motherless pushed her to be the best mom to us, her children. I have four siblings, Michael, Edwin, Catherine, John Paul, and I, as the youngest. Our family doesn’t live in a silver plate, instead we live in a box space where every part of a house can be found. Our humble space transforms from dining, living and bedroom at night. That space gave Nanay the opportunity to serve us as best as she can as she can easily hold us with that small distance.
As I am writing this, my mother is in the house, currently suffering from headache, back pain and dizziness since Monday, I gave her medicine still the pain doesn’t go away. So I promise tonight, I will have her sleep at my side and give her the sweetest hug a child can give to his mother. I don’t have all the solutions to her problems and struggles, but I have the gratitude and concern for her strength and forgiveness every time we, her children, go the wrong way.
The fact that our mothers bear us inside their wombs for nine months is already a great manifestation of their love for us. No amount of money can pay the sacrifices that they made for us. We should never be ashamed of showing through our words and gestures how much we love them especially on Mothers’ Day.
To the workers who do everything for us for 24 hours, 7 days a week even without payment, SALAMAT PO SA AKING INA, SALAMAT SA IYONG INA at SALAMAT SA LAHAT NG INA! (Thanks to my mother, to your mother and to all mothers).
Young, Kind & Free 