The Love I’d Shown My Children, Returned in Kindness by Them Back, to Me

How these children had been raised by your love, and how they’re now, reciprocating the love you’d, shown to them, back to, you, when you, needed the help…this IS, a good example of how the members of a family interact with each other…translated…

On this, very morning, I took my three children, from Dallas, to the neighbor city of Owen for their piano lessons.  The two cities are a twenty-minute drive, but the weekly trip still made me, nervous; the freeways are too complex, too, intricate, if I lose my focus, I can easily miss the exit ramp; if I got onto the tollways, that would be, even more, unfortunate.

As I waited out of the classroom, the familiar barely noticeable pain started up from my lower abdomen, I’d thought, “shit, it’s, here”, that annoyance that came, with my period, that left me, weakened, made me want to, lie down where I was to rest.

As the kids finished their lessons, I’d told them, “mom’s not feeling well today, my period’s here, I feel, a bit, weak.  But let’s still go to Kroger’s to get your favorite foods, but I would need you two to help me out.”  I’d started, reading off the list, told them, that the mission upon us is, “get everything on the list we need, then, we go, homie.”, my three children nodded, like well-behaved, children.

illustration from UDN.com

What was accidental to me, that on the entire shopping trip, they’d not fought to sit in the cart, didn’t pester me about getting them this snack or that, and even as we got home, they’d fought to help me carry in the groceries.  As I’d parked the car, turned the engine off, my eldest daughter told me in a light tone of voice, “mom, do you know what I was thinking about just now?”, “Tell me!”, she’d looked at me, with that seriousness about her, “I was thinking…what would happen, if you passed out, as you were, driving?”

The words shot into my heart like the arrow.

I’d taken her hand, taught her to turn on the warning lights of the car, to push down on the brake pedals, to pull the brakes up, to call 9-1-1, and how to protect herself when she’s inside the car.  Seeing how focused she was learning all of this for me, it’d made me, cry.  I held her face in my hands, said, “are you my little, genius?  Whatever made you think of all of this?  Mom never seen any nine-year-old as amazing as you, are!”, she’d started, smiling, like a, bright little, flower then.

And I knew better than she had: she saw my face turned pale, how I didn’t have enough strength as I carried myself by walking, how she’d, started up her own, protective mechanism inside her, unpanicked, not running away either, was her way, of steadying me in her own, way.  That sudden onset of maturity, and that tenderness, was like the lid of the pressure cooker, the moment it’d gotten lifted, the heat came up toward my face: surprise, heartache, warmth, feeling that she didn’t have to carry so much……it all, took over my heart.  I’d pulled her into my arms, told her, “mommy will take good of myself, and I won’t pass out when I’m, driving, don’t you worry about a thing.”

As we left the supermarket, I watched my three kids with the fruits, milk, vegetables in the backs, my eyes got teary, again.  For a very long, long time, I’d gotten used to having the bags on my arms, on my shoulders, with the water bottles, snacks, coats, used to carrying everything by my own, self, to the point of not daring to expect, that someone is there to, help me with anything.  And yet, this beautiful fantasy, had become a, wonderful, reality, on one morning I felt, too, weakened.

As I arrived home, I’d gone into my room to lie down to rest.  My eldest daughter took my youngest daughter’s hand lightly, quietly walked to my door.  She’d told me, “mommy,  I will turn the light off, and put that night light on for you.”, my youngest also told, “mommy, you rest up now.”

They shut the door, and I was, hit hard, by that boomerang called “love”, all those years of giving to them wholeheartedly, everything I’d, shown to love them, it all got, returned back to me, today.

And, I’d started, crying then, underneath that dim light that my daughter had, left on, for me.

And so, these are the moments, that touched you, that brought you to, tears, not because of how your daughters had given back to you, as you’d, raised them with the right values, but how they, had been, socialized by you, to care for you, just as you’d, cared for them too, and this is a good example of how children modeled after their parents’ behaviors, because kids will feel our love for them, and saying I love you, sometimes means a whole lot less, compared to using your ACTIONS to show that you love your own young, like this mother had, socialized her own two young children well, loving them, unconditionally, and now, she’s been, blessed with the reciprocal, kindness from her own, young too.

Being Understanding of Others, a Priceless Gift from a Single Mother to Her Children

A single mother’s lessons to her children, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

Two nights ago, I went to have some tea at a friend’s house, she’s a single mother who raised up three kids on her own by owning a small business.

As I’d gone to her place, I saw that the transportation company was just unloading her order, and she’d hurried, giving them some teas; as the workers left, I’d commanded her on being gentle and kind!  She’d chuckled, “I’d gotten grilled by my son at an earlier date too!”, she’d mentioned, that last month as her son returned home, the delivery person had just arrived, and her son rolled up his sleeves and wanted to help out, she worried that her son wasn’t accustomed to it, and prevented him from helping, and her son told her, “If the man delivering the goods is your son, wouldn’t YOU want someone to help him too; don’t forget, he’s someone else’s son too.”  And she’d gotten grilled by her son, even though, she’d lost face, but deep down, she felt a TON of pride.  Her son was empathetic, understood how to show care and concerns for others, that, was the MOST precious wealth she can ever ask for, she believed.

“With this good child, you have NO worries from here on out.”, hearing this, she’d happily showed me a Mother’s Day Card from her son, her son wrote, “Other than being your son, your treating me like the rest, I’d took it to heart, there’s little to be said, because I’m a guy, but, DO take good care of yourself, so I can have enough time, to take care of you when you’re older.”  At the end of this, there were two last sentences, “I’d given my past years to you, now, could you please give me the REST of your years too.”  Seeing this, my eyes started to get wet, “As parents, if you can see the last line, ‘Do give your future to me to care’, you MUST be really happy!”

She’d minced her lips and smiled, told me, how when her son was real young, she’d carried the burdens of being a single mother, and made a silent vow, to teach him well.  As her son was in the elementary years, her sister-in-law died of cancer, leaving behind FOUR young children, and she didn’t want them to grow up without a mother, and so, she’d taken care of them, treated them like they’re her own.

Other than having this heavier burden, her son would get jealous of his cousins, believed that someone had spread his mother’s love thin.  She kept telling her son, to allow him to know why she was doing what she’d done, and her son, who had the company of the older and younger cousins finally understood the mother’s heart, and now, the four nephews all called her “mom”, like her son would too.  Seeing how her son wrote, “You’re treating us all the same, I’d taken it to heart”.  She said, “to raise up this group of kids, my life had always been hard, and I couldn’t accumulate enough money for the kids, but, seeing this line, she knew, that she’d given them a priceless kind of endowment.

“Tao, have another cup of cold water tea, and, you can’t drink it right away, you must wait, for the tea leaves to get soaked for long enough in the water, and, in this hot and murky weather, nothing IS more suitable.”  She’d poured another cup, I’d slowly, drank it, and slowly chewed the words of her son, and slowly tasted the priceless treasure she’d talked about, in the end, I’d let out a long sigh, “It DOES taste amazing!”

And so, you CAN see, the hardships of this mother, she’d had to raise up her son as a single mother, and, her four nieces and nephews too, and yet, look how well rounded her son had become.