A Story of a Mother’s Love

Long time ago, there was a blossoming lady who was smitten with her beauty by a gorgeous man. They fell in love and eventually got married. As a young couple, they started with a very simple life as they both belonged to a poor family. But despite of this status, their love, respect and trust to each other seemed to be authentic. They were blessed with fourteen children, 7 boys and 7 girls. Having a prolific family at that time was a trend considering that family planning hasn't been introduced yet to the populace. But to this couple, their children were the most wonderful gifts from God and they were thankful for this blessing. With a strong catholic faith, this couple has taught their children to become good followers of Christ and emphasized the significance of unity, brotherhood and generosity in the family and the neighborhood.

As years passed by, it was ineluctable for this family to encounter countless obstacles and challenges due to financial struggles and to the fact that they were raising a huge family. This couple had their source of income by making and selling salop, gantilla and tabakera. To augment their income, they had to do farming and borrowed their relative’s carabao to till the land.

Then the biggest challenge of their lives occurred when the father died at a young age of 57. The untimely demise of the pillar of the home made the life of this family even more difficult to deal with. The mother being left alone to shoulder the responsibility was indeed a formidable task to do. But this mother with the assistance of her children especially the eldest sisters never gave up fighting for the survival. Instead, this mother considered this test as a way of striving harder to keep her family intact and solid. She worked overnight finishing salop, gantilla and tabakera and delivered the finished products by walking several miles with the help of her children and proceeded to the farm after. She never showed to her family that life during those times was full of hardships, rather she had continually displayed positivity and resiliency. She was selfless and with unconditional love towards the family, her treasures. As much as possible, she wanted to please everyone the best she could and did not want to disappoint them. Her youngest child oftentimes asked to buy something for him whenever she went to the market but one time, she did not have enough money and instead of explaining that she had insufficient fund, she was able to pacify the youngest child of telling him that she was chased by a police officer with such a good drama and the child never complained anymore.

She was a mother who always made sure that there were food in the table for 14 children even if she would have only a portion. This extraordinary virtue of this mother is a rare find. But since there was a big family to feed, the older sisters were not able to prioritize their future until they forgot to marry although of course there have been suitors. These older sisters helped out the family in pursuing younger siblings’ dreams to finish their educations as they had no relatives to rely on. The younger siblings on the other hand, had to be working students and had to source out other sidelines to help pay off school’s obligations. Until these tremendous sacrifices of this family paid off. Younger siblings graduated from college and eventually landed stable jobs.

Moving forward, the mother had become a grandmother and a great grandmother. The clan had also produced architect, lawyer, engineers, CPAs, nurses, police officers and teachers. Success had gradually been reaping to this family and the mother stayed humble and selfless. She never had fancy clothes, pieces of jewelry or went out for shopping. She was always in the family trying to extend what she could give. Her grandchildren were her new favorites. To manifest this, she would secretly share her money to her grandchildren the money she received from her children. That would be her happiness. She was very loving, caring and welcoming to the family’s visitors. She was always the one who reminded her children to offer snacks and lunch to whoever came to their house and didn’t mind if her small carinderia would fall to bankruptcy.

During the last years of her life, she was awarded as the most outstanding mother/grandmother in their community. She was truly a definition of a strong willed woman with a purest heart. Her mission in this world was accomplished with flying colors. But her legacy will continue.

The father and mother in the story are my great grandparents. They are my roots and I’m extremely proud to be one their grandsons.