A Mother's Love : Happy Mother's Day !

There are times only when a Mother's love
Can understand our tears,





Can soothe our disappointments
And calm all our fears.




There are times when only a Mother's Love
Can share the joy we feel




When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.




There are times when only a Mother's faith
Can help on life's way




And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day




For a Mother's heart and a Mother's faith
And a Mother's steadfast love



Were fashioned by the Angels
And sent from God above...



"Si Nanay ..."

Nanay ( May God rest her soul ) passed away one placid day in the Fall of 2001. Up till now I don't recall who amongst my sisters I was talking to on the other end, all I remember were the words "Kuya, wala na si Nanay ..." being spoken and then finding myself curled up afterwards on our patio chair, crying like I've never cried before in my life. I cried for hours, days and every time I hear an old song being played on the car stereo on my way to work, songs that I used to hear her sing before while she was cooking ( I remember listening but silently praying that she stops! )

I was advised by our legal counsel back then that although he can provide me with a pass to go back to the Phils., he cannot, in any way assure me that I would be granted re-entry due to the nature of our US immigration application. You see, we are just days away of being granted immigrant status and any new activity on our papers might put the whole process back to square one. So here I was deeply distraught and worse, without that much of a choice. The best I can do was to send what was supposed to be my airfare money, and then some, to help out with the expenses.

Nanay must have known how badly I was grieving at the time for in a last act of love that only a mother can do, a day after she was laid to her final rest, "she sent me a letter". As fate would have it, she was able to write and mail me a 3 page letter just days before she died. It was a letter professing her love for us her children and also thanking me for the money I just sent her weeks before. She said she appreciates how I would always respond to her every beck and call and wrote that she's ok ... not to worry for she already made her peace with her Maker.

She signed it "Maraming Salamat, Nanay".

During her living years, Nanay was the sole person that would hold our once financially burdened family together. Confronted with problems left and right, she would still make you feel that there's always hope for tomorrow. Now even in death, she found a way to reach out and comfort me at the time I need it most. I still keep the letter ... framed and tucked away safe , a clear proof and reminder of a Mother's love, that knows no boundaries, for her child.