Mamang
As the world enters a brand new way to spend Mother’s Day this year, I am able to find time and go back in time and reminisce about the good old days — days when I was still a young lamb that spent many a days with my family — with my mother.
My Mamang.
In a way, these quiet times have given me the opportunity to go back to those nostalgic days; days when I would just tag along with my Momski and just go wherever she would go, listen to her stories, and to just simply spend time with her and God, as we sit on the couch or take our Barnie for a walk.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of our Mom being the mother of our household. How time flies.
So, with all this time on my hands, why not take time to go take a stroll down memory lane, and see why Milagros is the bestest mother in the world?
Parañaque, Metro Manila. 1995.
(Or was it 1994? Either way, sometime during the ‘90s.)
It was a typical hot, ultra-humid day in the Philippines. I was walking with my mom down the busy, noisy street within the subdivisional neighbourhood where she grew up. As we were walking, we passed by the front of a bank when suddenly this car started backing up towards us and almost hits five-year old me. Shocked and enraged, my mom got so mad that she slammed her hand on the guy’s trunk and yelled at him for being careless. Thank God no one was hurt.
There was this one other time when we were rushing to catch the LRT train during rush hour. As we got onboard the train, a sudden rush of a massive crowd got on as the doors were closing, and I got carried away by the crowd. For a couple of seconds, I got separated from my mom’s hand. I got scared and started crying out for her, and as she hears my calls, she was yelling my name too and pushed through the throngs of people to safely get me back to her side.
These were only two of the countless times my mom has shown her love and protectiveness towards me and my brother during our childhood. Growing up, we were always on the go. But despite the many responsibilities that life asks of her, my mom always makes sure that we are taken cared for.
For many Filipinos, the Philippines have little to nothing to offer when it comes to jobs and opportunities, due to the hardships and poverties that is prevalent in our homeland. Thus for many, going abroad to look for work is the only way to survive. Our lives wasn’t so bad compared to many Filipinos, but it was still a little tough nonetheless. I was born in the Philippines, but grew up in Saudi Arabia, as my dad was able to find jobs there to sustain our family. In the beginning stages of our family, my dad had to be be away from my mom for years at a time. When she was pregnant with me, she would always pray and talk to me in her belly, and many times she would have a cassette Walkman player play praise and worship music and would put it on her belly for me to listen. She said that I would dance and kick around as the music plays. When it was finally time for me to be born, she was all by herself, but thankfully she had God and her immediate family there to give support.
Her faith in Jesus truly supported her during the first trying times of her motherhood. Even my name was something that my mom and dad prayed for, and made sure that they took care and raised me in the way of the Lord. And God looked after me and my parents during the first few years of their early parenthood.
During those early days of motherhood, she went through some tough times. As stated earlier, my dad is working in Saudi Arabia while she had to stay in the Philippines so that they can earn and save up some money to make a life for their young family and make ends meet. Two weeks after I was born, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Luzon, the island group wherein Metro Manila was situated. Thankfully, God protected her from any hurt or injuries. About a month later, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait which sparked the first Gulf War. My dad was in Saudi Arabia at the time, so you can only imagine how scary it was for both my parents, who were thousands of miles away from each other. My dad would send money from Saudi Arabia to my mom for our supplies while being in the Philippines, but also told her that she cannot come visit due to the dangers of the conflict. Prior to the war, my mom would visit from time to time just to be together with my dad whenever they could afford to. But when the war broke out, my mom made it a resolve to be with my dad, despite my dad’s stern warnings. Taking the money that he had been sending, she bought a flight ticket to Riyadh without telling my dad. Despite the repeated warnings from both her parents and siblings and by the media, she was able to get to Riyadh safely. I recall her telling me how when she was in the Departures section of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, she was the only one there. On the Arrivals side were Filipino overseas workers coming back home to escape the war, and she would overhear them being surprised to see a young mother with a baby all by herself heading to a war zone. She would hear them even try to talk to her saying, “What are you doing?! Do you even know what is happening over there?!”
Despite it all, my mom persevered. When she got to Riyadh, things were tense. According to my parents, the city was dead quiet. The streets were empty (pretty much like how things are right now.) She now has to find a way to survive in a country that is totally different and foreign to her, but even during those times, God looked after her and my dad. Saddam was using chemical warfare against Kuwait and their allies. Saudi Arabia was were Kuwait’s leader was seeking safe refuge, so Riyadh was a target. The government gave away gas masks to people and also had some for baby cribs. Uncertainty always loomed over them, as they sought refuge under God and in their small abode. Terrifying sounds of air raid sirens would be a constant thing to be heard in the air, followed by many quakes caused by shrapnel falling into the earth whenever the U.S. would intercept Saddam’s SCUD missiles. This went on for about half a year, but by the grace of God, my family and I were unscathed. Whenever I hear the stories of those times, I just cannot help but see my parents as true heroes, and for my mom to go towards danger like that? Definitely amazingly brave of her.
The Saudi Arabia years were tough. We spent those years in two cities: Riyadh and Jeddah. My mom had to let go of her career of being an architect due to the nature of the country, wherein sadly women didn’t have a lot of privileges back then and were not allowed to practice and work certain jobs and careers. So for the most part, my mom had to stay home and take care of me and my brother. Due to the hard life for expatriates and overseas workers, we had to be very thrifty with everything that we had, and a lot of my childhood is different from how it is with many here in the west.
A particular hard and painful time for her was when I had an accident wherein I wandered into the kitchen and played with the stove. Boiling stuff fell over me and scalded a fair amount of my back, head and face. I do not remember the specifics of this event, but my mom had some tough trials during this time. I can only imagine the pain of a mother hearing the cries of her baby son in the hospital, being helpless to do anything to soothe him. But my mom kept on praying to God for my healing, and by His miracle, I am here today, and without much scarring damage to my face. Despite the hardships and trials of those times, my mom persevered and was able to grow and learn how to be a mom.
But just because it was hard, it doesn’t mean it was bad! In fact, it was a great time in its own beautiful way. My mom had friends within the underground church that they were part of, and my mom was able to get betamax tapes of Christian-themed cartoons for me to watch called Superbook and The Flying House. She was also able to secure a single, Arabic-dubbed episode bootleg copy of Captain Tsubasa (in Saudi Arabia, it was renamed as Captain Majd for the Arab audience; I will most likely make a post about these later!)
There wasn’t much money for toys, so they had to improvise. My mom would use everyday objects such as pots, pans and formula cans as building blocks for me to play with. She would read me Bible stories, and sing me Bible songs. But my favourite things that she would do back then was tell me forest and animal stories. She would make up fantastical critter stories on the fly before my nap or bedtime, and they mostly comprised of characters such as Mr. Squirrel, Mr. Fox, Mr. Bear, Mrs. Duck, and all the other misters and missus animal critters she would come up with. I would remember times when she is tired and she would trail and doze off, and I would try to keep her going with her stories, and she will try her best to fend off the sleepiness, until we both fall asleep.
She would cook me instant noodles with eggs, since we do not have much food, but I remember it being amazing. I still try to remake it from time to time just to reminisce. During rainy days in the Philippines, she would have a can of Milo powder and we would snack on it while the rain pours outside.
I remember my first ever day in school. I was such a crybaby, that they allowed my mom to sit in the back of the classroom to accompany me for the first week. She also painstakingly copied my classmates’ notebooks so that when I get home, she could catch me up to speed. She would also tutor me in math and teach me how to write and read.
On the side, she would help my dad by selling some filipino delicacies as a side hustle. She would sell these powdery Filipino sweets called Polvoron, and salted eggs. That helped put food in our table and make ends meet. I would remember watching her work and make those at our small home, and would accompany her as she would push me and my brother on an old baby stroller, which had makeshift wheels made of rubber hoses, because there was not much money to afford a brand new one. But nonetheless, I enjoyed riding that stroller, as I pretended it to be a car with my brother.
With the little that she and my dad had, they were able to still give me and my brother a memorable childhood. The simplicity of our lives is something that I still hold on to until this day.
All throughout my years growing up, my mom is always there for me. Despite the tough times, she would find ways to fulfill things. When I was progressing through school, there would be many times where textbooks are expensive, so my mom would painstakingly photocopy borrowed textbooks from either my classmates or the library so that I can still keep up with my studies. She would sacrifice a lot of her time and energy so that we can grow and learn.
She eventually was able to find a new career path as a teacher in various international schools, wherein she taught physical education, music, art and home economics. She taught back in college, and her calling came through again, and was able to bless countless kids apart from me and my brother. She would always tell me that one of her proudest moments was when I was selected by my school to represent them in an international art competition in Bahrain back in 2004. She accompanied me all the way by booking our flights and hotels, and she stood by me and supported me in the sidelines while I competed. That was the most stressful time for me at the time, and she cheered me on. She and my dad were also able to be a blessing towards many brothers and sisters in Christ in a very strict country, and is a role model until this day on how to live as how Jesus wants us to be.
As our lives transitioned from the Middle East and into the free West, my mom is instrumental to adapting into a new life. Despite a promising life here in Canada, it is not without its hardships in the beginning. Many immigrants’ educational and professional experiences are not accepted here in Canada, so it is essentially back to square one for many, including my parents. But they put in their dues in order to bring me and my brother a great life. We may not understand it at the time, but looking back, they truly sacrificed a lot just for our lives to be better and secured. My mom had to work extra hard finding teaching jobs as well as other opportunities just to make sure we are able to survive in yet another new country. As I transitioned into high school and eventually into university, my mom is there all the way, being with me all through my stressful and anxiety-filled times in school work and applications, and dealing with student debt and finances. She is able to help me through it all, and even until now, she still puts up with me and the challenges that I and our family brings to her.
I remember this one time when I was small, she was going through a hard time, and it getting to her. Through tears, she asked me, “Jemuel, what should I do?” “I don’t know Mama, I am still a baby!” I replied. That small moment made her day and lifted the weight off of her. Decades later, I am now blessed by God to be self-sustaining, and thanks to my upbringing, my goal at the moment is to simply become a blessing to others, but also to be a blessing to my parents. I make it my mission to repay my parents back for all the sacrifices and goodness that they have by hoping to make their lives a lot easier through God’s blessings through me.
I was blessed enough to be able to bring my mom to New York and spend time and bond with her through a God-filled trip for her birthday last year. Through that trip, I was able to also strengthen my faith with God by having a great mom-son time together.
“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” — Proverbs 31:25–29 (NIV)
My mom’s name is Milagros. It means “miracle”, and her life and her presence in ours is nothing short of a miracle from God. I truly thank the Lord Jesus for her and her love, that we can see God’s love and grace through her. She is a true hero to me and my family, and I continue to pray that God continue to bless her richly.
I love you so much, Mamang. We love you infinitely!
May God bless all the mothers out there, and may He bless all for their sacrifices.
