A Mother's Love: Timeless

Three nights ago, I found myself staring at a mother with her high school daughter. I really found it weird (and absurd) that a grownup still has to be fetched from school by her mum who seemed to be tired of doing daily household chores for the family (imagine a typical Filipino labandera). The mum seemed to be enjoying the routine as she fondled through the hair of her daughter in the whole duration of the ride. I thought, maybe, this mum is just overprotective and non-trusting of her daughter, which comes pretty the reason why she still needed to fetch her daughter.

Not too soon, the daughter shouted, "Lugar lang." She bid goodbyes to her classmates and friends who were with them in the jeep. Of course, I was still there, staring and waiting for them to depart from the jeep. Her mum went down first, but her daughter seemed no to follow her. She just sat there, as if waiting for something to happen. I wondered why. Suddenly, the mother reached out her hand, her daughter got it, and as she stood I noticed that the student is limping as if she had fallen and had her bones broken. She had difficulty going down, but her mother was there, all the way, to help her do the act. The mother even carried her under her arms as if she was a young child until she got her feet in the ground. The student still limped, not being able to walk properly, with her arms around the arms of her mother.

Later did I realize that the student has been experiencing Polio, a non-curable disorder characterized by paralysis and immobility of some of nervous reflexes. I asked another student beside me (who was a friend of that polio child) about the mother and daughter, and she said that the mum have been around her daughter since childhood, not failing to fetch her every day just to be sure that her daughter gets an education.

I was startled. I was judging through the cover of the book. I asked myself, "If I become a parent, will I have the same patience as this mother have?" The thought seemed to upset me, but the very sight of the mother and daughter that day really made me smile, not to mention a little bit teary-eyed.

As the jeep accelerated, I looked back. I saw them crossing the road, with the daughter's arms around her mother's, and the two smiling as if they are really lucky to have each other.