Remembering Mom's Favorites on Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is special because it belongs to a lady whose entire life has been  dedicated beyond herself  and made life specially beautiful for her loved ones and that include me; and that lady, of course, is my mom.

When I was a child, I remember that one of the favorite roles played by my mother is to be a teacher. She was my first teacher and the strictest I ever had.  I learned from her the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic. At that time, home schooling was unheard of yet, but, to certain extent my mother homeschooled me. She taught me the immense value of education. Her great efforts to get me properly educated bear fruits when I reaped academic honors when I was in the elementary grades and until my secondary schooling days. College was a little more complicated, but mom was there to lend support.

Mom also loved to play the role of a nurse and a caregiver. Who would ever forget those moments when I’d be sick and she would suddenly comes home from her office at midday to check personally on my temperature and to make sure my companion gave me my medicine on time. She would always be there to make her children feel safe, secure and comfortable while helping my father earn for our keeps.

As orientals, we eat rice a lot. And my mom’s favorite dish to go with the rice is “sinigang na bangos” Bangos is milkfish. Sinigang is soup made a little bit sour by squeezing   juice from green tamarind, calamansi or other sour fruits. It is a one dish meal, very nutritious and tastes good. Vegetables like camote tops, string beans, eggplant, etc., are part of the ingredients. My mom’s taste bud rubbed on me since until now I cook this viand which easily became my family’s favorite.

Mom is very fond of ice cream. Her smile is sweetest when her lunch or dinner is concluded with a cup of ice cream.  For her, every celebration is made much more special by serving special ice cream. A birthday celebration is incomplete if there is no ice cream dessert. Yet, it has to be ube and macapuno (sweetened coconut flesh) flavor, otherwise, she won’t be satisfied with any other flavor.

My mom loves to sew. All my clothes, especially my house dresses have always been taken cared of because she is ready to mend every tattered edges and falling buttons. What was sweet about it is that she has continued doing so even when I got married.

My house is situated at the back of my mom’s family home. On weeknights, sitting at her porch, my mom would wait up for me until I come home from the office. She sees to it that I am safely home before she retires to bed. And at times when I had to come very very late and she had to go to bed before I arrive, the first thing she does early in the morning is to check on me.

My mother is a very prayerful and religious woman. She sets aside a special hour every day, usually in the morning,  for her prayer time. That’s why altar candles are always in her shopping list.

One of my mom’s favorite activities is going to church on Sundays and Fridays. My mom’s favorite flower Is sampaguita. She buys sampaguita leis from the vendor everytime she attends church services. And during Good Fridays, she buys a lot of sampaguita to adorn the altar to be used by the family for the religious rite.

She likes maroon because that’s the color of her dress or habit whenever she goes to church. You won’t see her wearing any other dress color except maroon with yellow cord wrap around her waist. That is the color for the devotees of Quiapo’s Black Nazarene, of which she is an avid devotee. But she can no longer join the religious procession for the Black Nazarene every 9^th of January. There have been millions of devotees joining the procession and taking part at the fiesta’s merrymaking. Her knees have been weakened by the years and won’t last the long route traverse by the procession and the rowdy crowd. She has just contented herself going to church to silently pray her rosary.

I can go on and on remembering my mom’s favorites but I have to stop now because I am already teary eyed. I thought I won’t be missing my mom. When I decided to write this hub as a tribute to her because it is mother’s day today, I thought I won’t shed a tear. But now I am crying because I miss my mom. She passed away five years ago. I miss her a lot now. Yet, I am happy because I have simple, yet, very good and happy memories of her that will last forever.