A Mother...In Retrospect

If my mom were alive, she would have been 64 years today. Sadly, she passed away a few days short of reaching this milestone.

More than a decade ago, my mother suffered a stroke and never really fully recovered. She was inflicted with paralysis on the right side of her body. Doctors said that she would have been able to regain the normal functionality of her body but she might have suffered something more traumatic that was stopping her progress. She never went back to work and instead, went back to the Philippines to recuperate.

I have not seen my mother in the last 13 years. Life happened and in between things, I suppose I took our mother-daughter relationship for granted. And although I phoned her occasionally to see how she was, somehow now it does not feel that I did enough to give more substance to our bonding moments.

But then, for all my shortcomings, it did not mean I loved her any less. She was, after all, still my mother and that was just that. She gave me life and loved me regardless...and for those, I am and will always be eternally grateful.

If my mom were alive, she would have been 64 years today. Sadly, she died in her sleep last July 1, 2011. She is survived by her siblings, nephews and nieces, her daughter and son-in-law and her granddaughters.

This post is for my mom, wherever she is now. And may her soul rest in peace.