Weekend wonderings: Lessons my mother taught me

My mother and I have never got along.  Perhaps its due to our very differing personalities.  She, for one, is a pragmatic, efficient and practical person (To her, buying flowers is a waste of money as they don't last.  Anything purchased for the home must have a practical use, since paintings on the walls just mean more dusting.  Cleanliness is king.), while I tend to be idealistic and quite her anti-thesis (all my crafting, and love for pretty things, along with our overstuffed bookshelves simply makes her aghast, while I roll my eyes at her for wanting to pack her storeroom for perhaps the 100th time in a year).  We have opposite viewpoints on many things, and I must admit many a times, we do come to loggerheads over this and that.

However, though we are poles apart, I do appreciate how she has taken care of me and my brother all these years, quitting her job and making all those sacrifices to bring us up.  I guess one does not really understand how much time and self one has to give up for the sake of your children, until you actually become a parent yourself.  And along the way, I have learnt from her that:

:: The language of love can be a be a hard one to understand, but it can be learnt:
For mum, she was never the demonstrative type, and she wasn't the type to give you a hug, or praise you.  Often or not, good results would be questioned with a "but how did your friends do?".  She is quick to label Junior J as "lazy" if he doesn't want to try new learning activities.  But I've realized that she shows her care and concern through other means.  Like making sure that you have a decent breakfast before school, and trying to buy your favourite foods for lunch.  Or how she cuts Junior J's hair when it gets too long, or boils soup for him to drink, and buys pyjamas for him when he outgrows his old ones.

:: It is the little consistent acts of devotion that make the largest difference:
Mum took the time to ensure that my dad and us were all comfortable.  She was the one who took it upon herself to do all the chores (to the detriment of her health sometimes), and ensured that we always had home-cooked meals.  While she wasn't the type that would sit with us to read a book (she usually had her hands full running her household), or chat with us about our hopes and dreams, she was consistent in caring for us in the way she best knew how, taking care of our physical needs.  I guess even though it was hard to chat with her, it was always nice knowing she would be at home, there, stable and strong, when I came home from a long day at school.

:: Mothers are strong, because we need to be for our family's sake:
No matter what, she kept going.  She perservered on through the events that messed up our family... hung in there and kept at the housework even when she was sick.  And for this, she has my admiration.

We fight, we quarrel.  We hardly see eye to eye.  But she is still one woman that I do respect and love, and I really thank her for all that she has done for me.

And to all mothers out there... Happy belated Mother's Day.  Hope you had a blessed one!