Super Mums

Reminiscing my childhood on this very special day...

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I probably wasn't the easiest kid to look after.

My mum told me that giving birth to me was a painstaking process. Right till I experience how it felt like to deliver a human baby from my uterus, I never did understand what she meant. To be fair, giving birth to Angel was a really smooth, natural delivery lasting merely 8 hours. But in my time, I was the baby who kicked my way out to the world at a premature age of over 7 months, caused my mum to lie in the hospital for weeks and in the actual delivery, refused to come out for over 24 hours.

As a toddler, I had crying fits at night where I would cry till my face turned purplish and to the stage where I would suffocate. Or at least look like I'm suffocating. So mum and dad had to literally bang the walls to distract me and when all failed, they had no choice but to take me out for a spin in the car and that was when I could calm down and go back to sleep.  

When I was a young child, I got into frequent fights with my elder brother. Yes, I do mean fights. We both learnt Taekwondo (he was brown belt while I was only blue) and would do flying kicks and punches at each other. Once he kicked me in the stomach and I went to the kitchen, filled a huge bowl of water and poured it onto him. Each time I felt I was bullied, I would cry, write whiny notes, draw a picture of a sad girl and put them on mum's dressing table so that she would know the agony I suffered. Little knowing all the agony I was causing her.

Things probably got better as I slowly grew up. But I never let my mum stop worrying about me. From hanging out with friends till wee hours, to late night chit chats on the phone, to having my first boyfriend and suffering my first heartbreak, I realised no matter how old I became, I never grew out of the need to have a mum that I can run to, the one whom I wanna lean on her shoulders to cry when I need to weep my heart out, the one whom I wanna hold hands with and rejoice when something good happens, the one whom I think of, care for, and love so deeply no matter how far apart in the world we may be.

Many people say I look like my mum. You know what? She not only influenced my looks, but she made me into the person I am today. My character, my mindset, my outlook on life, I guess I take after her in a sense.

Things Mummy does that warm my heart:

1) She doesn't waste a single drop of toothpaste. When I think a tube is finished and about to throw it away, she takes a scissor, cuts it open and continues to use till it is truly empty.

2) It's the same with shower foam and shampoo. When they are almost empty, she fills them up with water and uses them like new.

3) I once bought a pair of 100 baht flip flops for her from Bangkok. She didn't bear to use them and when she did, she used them for years. Even when the soles lost friction and became slippery. Even when the rubber strap between the big and second toe came off, she somehow managed to glue it back and continued using for another couple of years.

4) She buys 4D lottery and when iBET came about, she would go ecstatic when her $1 won her the consolation prize of $3. Yes, she looked even happier than someone who struck a $10K first prize, seriously.

5) She cycles to the market every morning to buy breakfast. Sometimes I cycled with her, sometimes she would lonbang (carry) me on her rear seat. As I grew older, she still carried me from time to time and when we went uphill, she would stand up and pedal with every inch of her strength till we reached the top. I used to be embarrassed when passers-by gave us stares, then I realise it was a joy, a pride, a treasured moment to be able to sit behind her, knowing that she will protect me no matter what lay ahead.

6) She speaks rather loudly and since we stayed on the second storey in our HDB flat, I usually could determine whether she was home or not once I reached the lift lobby. It may be get a little noisy when she's around, but that's always better than having an eerily quiet house.

7) She was always there to watch me, to cheer for me, to be proud of me when I went on the stage to collect a prize or an award.

8) She wasn't really a big chef but the simple dishes that she cooked, I ate and I loved it every day. Because they had the one big ingredient that no other chef could replicate: Home.

9) She is so scared of the cold but she flew to Sweden twice. And stood on a frozen lake, braved the chilly winds and even made snowballs with her bare hands.

10) When she got diagnosed with cancer, she never did want to make us worry for her. She kept the tears to herself, she wrote a diary, she battled on and she fought for everything she had. You know what? She won.

Because she is my mum and my mum is a superwoman in my eyes.

Happy Mother's Day, dearest Mummy.

May you feel my love from 6000 miles away.

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You'll never know what it truly means to be a mum till the day you become one. 

All mums in the world are superwomen in one way or the other. We are psychics, we have telepathy, we are super strong, we can last with no sleep, we can mend broken hearts, we can make tears vanish, honestly, I think we can even save the world if we unite.

Ask yourself, what will the world be with no mums? NOTHING. So yes, the world depends on us to keep going.

So let us sit back today, give ourselves a pat on the back, breathe the happiness in the air, muse over the ups and downs of motherhood, but at the end of the day, be thankful that we are lucky to possess this superpower and continue to be super mums for the next 10 years. 20 years. 50 years.

For as long as we possibly can.

WISHING A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE SUPER MUMS IN THE WORLD!

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