Photo courtesy: Nami Padilla
“Isusubo mo nalang, ibibigay mo pa sa anak mo”— this has been my mother’s life in a nutshell ever since she has had me.
A single mom who loves twice harder, fulfilling two different responsibilities: both as a mother and a father.
I was four years old when my father stopped supporting us financially. He is a Japanese man who I had never seen since birth; I had no vivid memories of him aside from the phone calls we had before he officially cut ties with us.
We used to live in Manila. But that unfortunate experience led us to move to my mother’s hometown in Palawan and live together with my other relatives.
As an only child who was only used to my mother’s presence, living with a large clan under a single roof was a huge adjustment.
Came the peak of our financial crisis, I could even recall my mother and I going to the mall having only 100 pesos in her wallet. That time, I had to satisfy myself just by looking at the dresses we couldn’t buy.
It was a sad memory, but I knew it was twice harder for my mother.
I may have grown up without a father figure, but I never felt I was lacking one parent because I’ve seen how my mother had to double her efforts just to provide for my needs.
Although there were times that I would still feel a pang in my chest hearing my friends talk about their fathers, I realized it was only during those times I was reminded that I don’t have one.
Mother’s Day celebration is a highly-valued Filipino culture. I had seen families eating in restaurants and mothers receiving bouquets from their husbands— but it wasn’t the same experience for my mother every year.
It wasn’t about the fancy gift-giving but rather having someone to lean on and share their burdens with for every mother.
Mothers, too, just like every child of a broken family, have their moments of yearning to have a complete family.
The definition of a home isn’t always about having its light and pillar into two separate entities. Single moms, who have defied all the odds alone, are living proof that it is possible to have two parents in one body.
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