Have you ever paid attention to your mother?
Do you wash up or make breakfast in the morning?
Rice or vegetables first when eating?
Do you prefer tea or plain water?
Will you not be able to sleep after eating fried food or will your tongue bubble?
We never took our mothers seriously and sincerely.
This is what I suddenly realized after reading Anne Ernaux's little book "A Woman's Story".
A Woman's Story is every woman's story. Its strength lies not in the drama of its main events, but in those moments that might otherwise go unnoticed, if not for the author's desperate recreation of every picture of her memory of a lost loved one. It is this unwavering sincerity, this will to face guilt, that gives Anne Ernaux's book an unusual power. 」
That's what the New York Times said about the book.
Those moments that are overlooked, those moments of moms that we ignore.
As the book says, In order for me to have a happier life than hers, she is ready to make any sacrifice, even the biggest sacrifice is to let me leave her side. 」
My mother left her hometown where she had lived for 50 years and came to this strange city for six years to take care of her precious daughter.
And I, I always feel that she has a bad temper and is impatient with children.
She stir-fried the same dish every three days, because before I said, "This dish is delicious", she has a bad memory, but she always remembers my favorite clearly.
And I always dislike her for making this dish all the time.
It was the season of quinoa production, and she always made the hometown dish "fried bacon with quinoa" for my husband, and she took care of everyone in the family seriously.
And I, when my husband said that the food was too salty, I didn't ask if my mother was tired.
She had shingles on her waist and was in pain until her whole back couldn't stand up straight, and then she cautiously asked me if I had time to take her to the hospital.
And I, blaming her for not telling me sooner, didn't find out early that she was touching the back of the bathroom mirror every night after taking a shower with the medicine she bought from the street pharmacy.
My mom, she did everything to make her daughter happy.
My mother was ready to give everything she had, to sacrifice everything she had, just to make her daughter happy.
Ernaux said, I can no longer hear her voice. It was her, and her language, her hands, her posture, her Xi of walking and smiling, that connected the woman I am now with the girl I once was. I lost my last bond with the world I came from. 」
Those moments that we ignore will one day turn into eternal regrets.
Now that I am a mother of two children, I understand my mother's dedication and sacrifice better. The umbilical cord that was cut off at birth has long since turned into an invisible bond that holds the mother and the child all the time. The mother has always raised her children with blood and bones.
Please take a good look at your mom and hug her sincerely.
When we rely on memories to fill in regrets, and when we cry back in midnight dreams, the person who gently wipes your tears, hugs you, coaxes you, and tells you not to be afraid is no longer there.