Dear Mom

Dear Mom, I wrote you this poem for Mother’s Day 16 years ago, yet the sentiments I expressed is as fresh today as it was then. Today is your 67th Mother’s Day and still counting as you continue to be Mom, not only to me and my siblings, but also to many others who had the luck to have known you. I vividly remember the teenagers and young adults in the neighbourhood on Chacon Street, San Fernando, who hung out at our home; I guess as a young mother, they responded kindly to your gentle nature. There were often kitchen activities and the smell of fresh-baked goodies in our home. I also remember the group physical fitness exercises and the sharing of knitting and crochet patterns. You were already then a role model for many, some of whom were soon to be newly wed. Perhaps this is where your cake baking and cake decorating talents developed. Mom, you were always curious, creative, generous and ready to share and to help others. I have noticed when I meet people who know you, they always speak to me about your kindness and your generosity.

Mom, today I honour you…
for all that you have done to show how deeply you cared about your family, friends and all the other people with whom you developed relationships over your 95 years on this Earth. Your actions have always shown us a devoted wife and mother, a virtuous and respectful person, a patient teacher, a good listener, a good friend and always a good spirit.

You were also a good cook and an excellent chauffeur (except for the time that you let dad’s classic MG Magnette 1958 roll down the steep driveway of our new home into the ravine on the other side of the empty lot in front of the house). You were always on the road: drive dad to work at Pointe-a-Pierre for 7 AM; return home to give us breakfast, then drive us to school; do your grocery shopping; return home to prepare lunch, then drive back to San Fernando, where you parked, near our schools, in Paradise Cemetery, and where we would go on our lunch break to have a hot meal in the car; you then would return home to finish your other chores and then back on the road to pick up Dad, and then us on Harris Promenade. Not to mention the additional trips for our other activities like private tutoring, scout activities and ballet classes, etc.

It is no mystery why you won a Courtesy Car Club (CCC) badge at the club’s dexterity trials. Under Dad’s time as president of the club, you were not only secretary, receptionist, switchboard operator… and literally chief cook and bottle washer, but you also actively participated in all the rallies, driving exercises and social activities. You were and still are a real cheerleader.

Today, for Mother’s Day, I offer you another badge:
The Mom of a Lifetime Award.

Thank you, Mom, for always being there for us and for all the loving things that you have done to ensure that we understand the true value of love. You showed us, by your example, that the currency of happiness is love and self-sacrifice. Today, I pay homage to you as a way to mirror your success. Your own quest for happiness has been more than fruitful and I wish that you profit well of it. I love you forever.

Happy Mother’s Day

With love from all of us:
Your children and children-in-law,
your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.