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My One Eye Mum
Shared by: Terence Lee
My mum had
only one eye. I hated her... she was such an
embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers
to support the family.
There was this one day during elementary school when my
mum came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed.
How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw
her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at
school, one of my classmates said, "Eeee, your mum has
only one eye!"
I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mum to
just disappear. I confronted her that day and
said, "If you're goanna make me a laughing stock, why
don't you just die?"
My mum did not respond. I didn't even stop to
think for a second about what I had said, because I was
full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings.
I wanted to be out of that house, to have nothing to do
with her. So I studied really hard and got a
chance to go abroad to study.
Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own.
I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my
kids and the comforts. Then one day, my mother
came to visit me. She hadn't seen me in years and
she hadn't even met her grandchildren.
When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her,
and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I
screamed at her, "How dare you come to my house and
scare my children! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!"
And to this, my mother quietly answered, "Oh, I'm so
sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and
then walked out of my sight.
One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my
house. So I lied to my wife that I was going on a
business trip. After the reunion, I went to the
old shack where my mum stayed just out of curiosity.
My neighbours told me that she had passed away. I
did not shed a single tear. They handed me a
letter that she had written for me.
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My dearest son,
I think of you all the time. I'm sorry
that I went to your house and scared your
children. I was so glad when I heard
you were coming for the reunion. But I
may not even be able to get out of bed to
see you. I'm sorry that I was a
constant embarrassment to you when you were
growing up. You see... when you
were very little, you got into an accident,
and lost your eye. As a mother, I
couldn't stand watching you having to grow
up with one eye. So I gave you mine.
I was so proud of my son who was seeing a
whole new world for me, in my place, with
that eye.
With all my love to you,
Your mother |
Always tell someone that you love them because you never
know what day will be their last, or yours. Always
seek to resolve your problems or disagreements with
loved ones because if either of you should pass on
earlier, the surviving persons will live the rest of
their lifetime pondering over those unresolved feelings
but never finding closure. And closure usually
brings peace...
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