MATALAM, North Cotabato (MindaNews / 09 May) — Amidst the COVID 19 plague, I haven’t forgotten that this Sunday, May 10, is Mothers’ Day. Lest these thoughts be overtaken by deeply thinking of what more to write so that the might of the pen shall be amongst the weapons we use against this malicious virus, I am writing this fervor now so that it reaches my wife, mother to our four children, on time. May this passionate and dedicated inscription of love inspire all mothers on their Great Day.
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall. A mother’s secret hope to her child outlives them all.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes
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My Dearest Wife,
I knew your great departed Father (and also your Mother) did not say a word on our wedding day. But, as I was marching to meet you, I saw his eyes moving fast, as if switching between “approval” and “disapproval” until he buckled down to the reality that his youngest daughter will wed anyway. I am sorry, but I knew pretty well that, that was not his dream wedding for you, whose name, Jasmine, resembles that of a beautiful and sweet flower.
From now on (as I believe I have been), I will dedicate my life to making you happy. That is the only way I shall be able to make up for the absence of a grand wedding and reception party that you so deserve. I am sorry that I only had my love to offer when I married you. You would have deserved a better man which was quite easy to come your way considering your beauty, simplicity and status in life.
When I was courting you, I chanced upon some of your suitors. Some were taller than me, others were more handsome than me, and all of them were far better off in life than me. All of us were competing for your love. But you chose me over them. Your having chosen me was the greatest challenge I took in every way, to strive for the better and be the best I can be as we raise and nurture a family.
These are some living proofs to what I have been saying: if I endeavored to earn a college degree, it was because I didn’t want to see you suffering with me due to joblessness, and maybe, hopelessness. If I managed to climb up the ladder of positions in government employment, it was because I wanted to make sure that when our needs grow, we shall be able to meet them head on. If I sat with you around the stove when we were cooking food, wash our clothes with you, bathe the children with you, it was because I didn’t want you to shoulder all the burden of family life alone.
If I strove to build a house (some say it is beautiful), it was because I didn’t want you to experience what I had experienced when I was a young child. On a clear night I could see some stars through the roof; on a rainy day we had to find our place to avoid getting wet.
If I managed to buy a car, it was because I wanted you to be as comfortable as possible when we travel. I didn’t want you to go through that experience again when you had to walk through the national highway for a few kilometers with two small kids (carrying one child, a bag on your left shoulder, and guiding the other child by the hand). That was a horrible experience you had when a few communist guerillas held some buses in traffic somewhere in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur because the owner of the bus company failed to or didn’t want to give in to their extortion demands. (In fact they burned a bus or two. That was in 1984).
If I did everything to support our children to school and made each one of them earn a college degree it was because I knew it makes you happy seeing them march to receive their college diplomas.
If I had been the first one to blink more often when we had some misunderstandings, it was because frankly I can’t bear even just the thought of losing you.
If I am given the chance to be single again, I will look for the same Jasmine and ask her if she would marry me. By the authority vested in me by the New Family Code and our matrimonial vow, I pledge to make you feel so loved not only on our wedding anniversary, Fathers’ Day, and Mothers’ day. Everyday is a new day to love you forevermore.
Happy Mother’s Day Sweetheart. I love you.
[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Dr. Maugan P. Mosaid (FB account: Maxim Sense) is a freelance writer. He teaches statistics in the graduate school and is a planning consultant occasionally hired by some foreign development institutions. He is presently the Municipal Administrator of Pikit, North Cotabato]
