Mothering Sunday

As y'all know, today is Mother's Day so I shall forgo my disney blog and tell y'all about my mother.

My mom's a nurse and she worked all over the hospital, often working her fingers to the bone. Before she delivered my brother she worked at the post partum, and I recall her working in the D.R., E.R., O.R., I know she worked in Geriatrics because I have been warned many times never to choose a career with old people involved. She worked as a visiting nurse in the field that she has finally settled with, neonatal intensive care or in NICU.

And I remember she would come home tired. This is during the times she switched from working day shift to night shift and we'd come home from school to find her fast asleep, getting all the rest she could before getting up and going to work from 7 to 7 am. This was most of our childhood and goes on even today.

What I remember most is that when we would come home from school, we'd go have lunch around 4 and this is the time she usually awoke to have lunch as well. She'd sit and talk with us while she ate and then we'd follow her to bed and sit on the bed while she drifted off to sleep.

But not before a story.

"Mom! Tell us the story of the old vampire/witch who almost got Papang (grandpa) but he knew her name and she got all embarrassed when he made fun of her hair."

"Mom! Tell us the story of how you saw your grandpa's ghost in the doorway and the moonlight came pouring through his body."

"Mom! Tell us how you used to daydream in school about catching fish and selling it to the Chinese man in the market."

"Mom! Tell us about how much of a tomboy you were and how you'd get into fights with boys who'd make fun of your younger nieces and nephews."

"Mom! Tell us about the time you picked up a rock but it turned out it wasn't a rock and began dripping down your arm when the rain started."

"Mom! Tell us..."

Inevitably she'd drift off to sleep in the middle of telling us the story and we'd wake her up, "finish up the story," and she'd end up repeating herself up to the point where we just heard and then drift off to sleep again. I think to this day I mix up the ends of stories and find that I've started another one in the process. But it was because of this and her encouragement that I read many stories that I love to hear them, read them, write them and make 'em up. I remember her favorite story that I told her as a kid was "Stone Soup" which I had read from the library and I'd tell her and my brother the story.

That was one of the things, as a kid, I told myself to keep on with my children. That was the time I connected with my mom and connected with my family history. I always feel as if I know my mom's side of the family more because of the stories she'd tell us over and over again. I don't know if my brother remembers many of the stories but I do and maybe someday I'll write a book of stories from all the tales she told me. I'll dedicate it to my mom because she deserves it. She also deserves a wonderful Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day mom!

Me.