30 Day Writing My Life Challenge – Day 3

 Wow, a week in the challenge and I’m failing miserably. 

Day three is supposed to be about your Mother or Father. I’m thinking, why do I have to choose? I’m going to write about my parents as my entry. 

My parents got married when my father was 30 and my mom, 25. They have been together since.  They are hard-working people who came from average income families.  My paternal grand father was a farmer, my grand mother a house wife while my grandparents from my mother’s side were into trading and selling. 

My mom is the 8th child from a brood of 11. My dad is the eldest out of 4. My mom didn’t want any suitors because her priority is helping her own parents and siblings. My father persevered. He got rejected 7 times. Then they got married. 

They built their first (and only) house in the late 70’s while my father was still working as a seaman abroad. My mother, on the other hand, owned a space in a “palengke” (market) where she sells rice, canned goods, etc. 

I didn’t see both of them much because they were always out (out of the country, out of the house…). When my youngest sibling was born, my father decided to retire and supported my mother in the existing business. They persevered together. They seldom fought (even if they did, we never saw it — except for that one time that my dad was angry because my mom forgot to press his handkerchief. LOL). They have set very good example of how a marriage should be. 

While in the US, my mom and I had a brief moment together. I told her that I want her to have a “relationship” with Blake. That they should play with Blake as much as they can. I want them to enjoy life. They don’t have to work as hard anymore because her children are all grown up. I also told her that at Blake’s age right now, she’ll always remember the time she spent with grandma. It will be stored in her “core memories” (You can tell I loved the movie Inside Out, huh?)

“What do you remember about me? Did I ever play with you?”, she asked.

Honestly, I had to pause. I can’t remember. I’m sure we played together. I’m sure we had moments … 

“You were always tired from work.”, I replied.

I saw her expression change. I started to well up. I realized that we have not had this kind of conversation before. I also realized that I want to spend time with them too, to make up for lost time when they were so busy providing for us.