Day Five: My Parents

May 17, 2022

I'm now on my day five of the thirty-day writing challenge. If you wish to participate, you can visit the @ellehcim profile.

Parents are gifts from God. I'm so blessed to have them as my parents. God must be thinking of me when He entrusted me to the wonderful parents that I have now.

My parents got married when my mom turned twenty-five and my dad was twenty- four. My mom wasn't able to finish her college education because her parents didn't value education that much. My father wasn't able to enrol in a university because his dad died early and he needed to step up as a dad and help his mom on the farm as his older brothers are studying already at the university. When it is his turn to go to college, his brothers didn't assist him.

But that didn't serve as an excuse for them to be neglecting parents. They even exceed what is expected of them as parents. My father is very hard-working. I mean he rarely sits down with friends. He is contented with staying at home and watching TV after work. He is also not the type of father that spends the whole night drinking. He also wouldn't smoke. And I love him more of that.

My mom is the typical mom who has whenever she sees the pending household chores but she is the best when she is in her best mood. She is good at experimenting with cooking and trying out new dishes. I think that's how moms are. My only complaint about her is that she is hard to please. Cakes won't appeal to her if it is expensive. Blouses won't make her smile if deep inside her heart she doesn't like them. Yes, she is not a pretender. She bluntly says what is in her heart.

The two of them are unique which makes every day a challenge for them to set aside differences and meet halfway. Growing up, I heard them fighting because my father is a jealous husband. My mother then would take us with her to her siblings to cool down. Now, they only fight over petty things. Over "too much salt in the soup" and "forget to label the feeds for the pigs". They would take turns being patient whenever the other one is in rage.

On the matter of sending us to school, they never fail to. They were able to send us to the university on their own. I remember how it was challenging for them to have two kids in the university. Though we were enrolled in a state university and there were financial aides available, the weekly allowance was still costly back then. They would be frugal at home just to make sure we have enough allowance at the university.

They were also loving and resourceful parents who would do everything just to save us. There were instances wherein I fell off a bike and stayed more than a week at the hospital. They were with me every time then. I was still six years old yet they never fail to find ways for me to ease my pain and for me to receive adequate medical assistance. When I grew older, I witness how undying our parent's love was when they took my brother to the hospital when he had seizures because of viral encephalitis. My father rode on a motorcycle then wearing his usual clothes without slippers carrying my brother in his arms. I witness how brave he crossed the river without his slippers on. He was very fast as if my brother's life depends on him. I can only look back and thank God that those days are over and God has sustained for us to overcome that challenge in our lives.

There are a million and two reasons m thankful for my parents and it would probably take me forever if would enumerate them all. So, let me end it here and continue counting and enumerating personally and privately.

Thanks for reading. Until then.