Please Give Your Mom a Hug For Me

It has been over 2 months since my mom passed away, I often dreamed of her, and have so many stories to tell but every time I would sit down in front of my computer, my emotion gets the best of me. My sisters told me to write about the stories surrounding her death; true stories that we encountered; I can’t say that they would qualify as ghost story, strange phanominal, or mystery. Maybe someday, I’ll have the courage to share but as right now, it’s still seems like a nightmare to all of us, I hope you all will understand. [Edit: The story about my mom, Who’s There?]

I received my magazines in the mail yesterday and came across a story in Koosang Koosom Magazine, written in Thai Language by N.Nou, the story is bitter sweet, and it’s worth sharing. I have several friends that lost their father due to illness, but still have their mom, if you are reading this; please give your mom a hug for me, for I no longer have a mother to hug…thanks.

This is a story told by N.Nou…

My mom is Chinese; she speaks Thai with a thick Chinese accent. When I was little, we often had school functions that required Ah Ma (mom in Chinese) to attend, I often didn’t want her to go because my friends would make fun of her, that she couldn’t speak Thai properly. At that time, it seems that my friends had big influence on me; I often gave Ah Ma a hard time.

I acted and said mean things to her all the time, until I got married and have a daughter. Looking back now, I was a terrible daughter, but faith was on my side, I have a second chance to make things right with Ah Ma. One day, I was watching the news, I saw Nye Loung (King of Thailand) gave his mom a hug and kiss. I was overwhelmed with emotions, and touched by his action.

I went back to visit Ah Ma, I gave her a hug for the first time; it was awkward but I didn’t dare to give her a kiss. I now share many holidays with her, such as New Year, Songkran Festival, and often stop by to visit. I often buy her miscellaneous items that she might need, or foods that I thought she might like. Even though these items might not have much values to them, but Ah Ma often said,

‘Wishing you and your family much happiness and prosperous. Next time you don’t have to buy anything, Ma have plenty of stuff, you need to save your money.’

Another person that gave me the courage to show my love toward Ah Ma, and that was Mr. Dumrong, the owner of Koosang Koosom Magazine. When he was answering letters from the previous issues, he often wrote about his mom, the more I read, the more I’m touched by his kind words and I started to take some of the things that he wrote, and incorporate them into my daily routine. I would call Ah Ma everyday, asking her, ‘how Ah Ma’s doing today, what Ah Ma had for lunch, is it raining, take care of yourself,’ and the last sentence before hanging up every time was ‘I miss you Ah Ma’. Thank you Mr. Dumrong, if you didn’t give such good advises, Ah Ma and I wouldn’t have this day, a special moment that we share. Mr. Dumrong often said,

‘Don’t love your mother just on Mother’s day’.

I have been doing this for several years now, and for those that have not done so, it’s not too late, you can start today or tomorrow. I know that I’m not perfect, but at least I can be a good person, even thought other might not think very highly of me, but I’m proud of myself, especially when I call and hear Ah Ma on the other end of the line.

This year, Ah Ma turned 76, she has diabetes, and high blood pressure; I’m not going to wait any longer to show her my love. When my dad was still living, I didn’t dare hug or kiss him; but currently, I’m not ashame to be seen holding hands with Ah Ma, hugging, and kissing her. Today I don’t have my dad to hug and kiss, it’s a shame that I can’t turn back time, but luckily I still have Ah Ma, a second chance; it’s not too late.

As of right now, I still have Ah Ma; I’m doing what I think is in her best interest. I’m going to spend as much time with her as I can, life is precious, and time is precious. The one person that is always ready to forgive us is our mother; I know Ah Ma did. Every time I heard the song ‘We love mom’, I always cry, because every wordings of that song, it happened to me.

Note from Nye:Dan-D2B calls the song above ‘Kong Kwan Wan Mae’ (Mother’s day gift); it is not the same song as the article, but every time I heard this song, I always cry, it’s very special to me.