:: I Heart YOU ::

My dad's position was: if you want to watch television or go out with friends improve your grades. My mom, on the other hand was not stickler about grade point averages; she just wanted me and my brothers to do our best in school.

My brothers and I have never made our parents life miserable (except when I decided to marry my ex… that! I shall not discuss on that). We go to school, we never skip classes.  Though I din do well enuff at school but my mom has never chastising (even verbally) about my grades.  Mommy was a staff nurse before she decided to become a full time housewife.  She quit her job just to follow daddy who were studying and been working around the globe.

Being brought up in few foreign countries and fused with various races due to my dad's working contracts have made us wiser than ordinary kids. But it was never an excuse to dismay our mom's life.  Every so often mommy would take her time off from doing the house chores just to check on our academic progress, and lo and behold, she would find out what we did in school. We could never hide anything from her. 

When I was 14, I was away from my family for quite a distance, this had made me thinking that if ever I do anything, my parents wouldn't know.  Even if eventually they would, it may take some time for them to know.  But even if I could, I wouldn't.  There will always be this guilty feeling that enfolds me. I don't know why.

My friends moms started to loosen their grip and allow their dotters to party until late at night. But mommy tightened her grip and said that if I can't make it home by 10 pm curfew, maybe it will be easier for me to make it home by 9 pm.

I remember when I was 17-years-old I applied a job at one of the biggest 24-hours fast food chain in the world. I was interviewed for the position. I got the job.  I was asked to do the night shift.   Then I was informed that the management wouldn't be able to bring me home until 3 am in the morning. I asked if there was any way that they could bring me home sooner because if I came home at 3 am in the morning, there was not a single doubt in my mind that my parents would kill me, they would never allow me to work as they thought that I was too young to work, but I need more than just my monthly allowance for shopping of course. Most of my friends were working at the age 17.  I had to decline the position.  There and then I was so frustrated that I was this close to have some extra money.

When it comes to a man, mommy educated me to always expect and respect prime time from a man. Well, her definition of prime time as phone calls early in the day and spending quality time together on weekends.  She told me that I should never allow a man to make me the last thing on his list when everything is closed and he is tired.   To make a man spend 'quality' time with me during the day, when we can have a meaningful conversation, go to the movie or out to dinner.  I could never agree less to this.

The evidence of being raised aptly by mommy, I managed to earn 2 college degrees. Most importantly, I know God.

Mommy, thank you so much for raising me to the best of your ability. Being a mother myself, I have learned a lot in life which I truly believe that nothing can beat the first hand experiences.  If I could re-live the days that I had, I wouldn't want to change it even a single second.   Whenever I think about not folding a sheet properly, I hear your voice in my head telling me that whatever I do, do my best.

Thank you for raising me to be strong enough to have the guts to be true to my own convictions and confidence not go along with the crowd. No one is perfect, but you are the perfect mother for me.

Happy 54th birthday Mommy.  We love you so much.