John 16:21 says, “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish but joy that a human being has been born into the world.”

A mother’s discomfort to every second’s contraction–the twisting, the turning, the standing, the sitting, the lying—all those repositioning due to unbearable pain when delivering a baby onto this world. A mother endures severe pain when the long-awaited moment arrives. The pain is indescribable; but despite that, hearing the wonderful cry, seeing that beautiful face, its tiny little hands, this little bundle of joy has brought her comfort, telling her it was all worth it.

Motherhood isn’t a mere task or job, neither is it just a responsibility. Rather, motherhood is a commitment–a lifetime commitment so to speak.

“A newborn came; A woman’s changed”.

Do you know how a mother juggles her time working while looking after her family–all at the same time? No?! Well, neither do I. As a matter of fact, some mothers don’t even know the answer whenever asked. They only reply with “I don’t know how but I just did”. My mom was not an exemption.

Growing up, I saw how my mom juggled her time between work and kids. She took care of us and made sure that all our needs were attended to. There were 4 of us: an older brother, two older sisters, and then, there’s me. Count my dad in as well. So that makes a total of 5!

My mom worked as a teacher and had later worked for the social welfares.

When I was younger, I used to stay at a day care school where my mom was teaching. She was also my teacher. I loved listening to my mom whenever her classes were on. The funniest part of it, instead of sitting with my classmates, I sat on the teacher’s chair just to hear her up close!

My mother’s job did not just start and end at school but rather it began and continued even back home. In the earliest morning, she would wake up and prepare our breakfast. She made certain we had everything ready before departing for school as well as my dad before leaving our home for work. After her long day at work, she continued her responsibility for our home by preparing our dinner as she took care of us all. Once all the cleaning was done, she helped us with our homework then prepared our bed for sleeping.

Don’t you think my mom is amazing? She made huge sacrifices for us and I know that not one huge act from us could ever repay that! We’ve grown up to become refined adults, nurtured with love and discipline—and it’s all because of her! She constantly assured us that no matter how old we become, we will always be her bubbly and lovely little children.

Later on, my dad had an ischemic stroke attack for the 3rd time. It was chronic that caused him initially to be monoplegic on his lower limb and needed constant moderate assistance from my mom; however, this time around, the attack caused him to be paraplegic and in turn be bedridden.

Though grown up as we are at that time, my mother continued to take care of our needs while continuously juggling her time with work, taking care of my father as well as my nieces and nephews. Until finally, she surrendered her job to focus all her time taking care of the family. Not any sooner, my father succumbed to his death. It was painful enough for all of us but I just couldn’t imagine how it was for her. Despite all that, she remained strong and composed, not just for herself but most especially for us. That much I know how my mother was. She was our everything, our champion and our hero.