...And God created mothers

May 13, Sunday, is Mother's Day here in the Philippines. A salute to all the mothers who struggle to raise their brood the best way they can, utilizing the resources they have, and struggling against all the psychoses they harbor from their own childhoods.

A deep curtsy to the mothers who plod on despite sickness, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, poverty, abuse and absent partners. A round of applause to the mothers who do their damndest not to yell at their tantruming toddlers, slap their disrespectful tweens and disown their hung-over teenagers.

A bow to the mothers who fight to keep their children alive, despite the unavailability of medical care, the absense of technology, and the cold shoulder of society. Further, a pat on the back to the mothers who constantly live with the GUILT of not having done their best, thinking they could have done things differently, but not having known how.

A toast, a toast, to new mothers, middle-aged mothers, old mothers, and mothers in their grave! The hands that rocked countless cradles, the lips that kissed away mountains of hurt, the overworked bodies that labored, the smiles that brought out suns, the careworn arms that both spanked and shielded, the breasts that nourished the world. To us, who have taken on this non-paying, physically painful, emotionally rending, mostly thankless job - but what a most important job it is!

For my mother-in-law, who struggles against stubborness, self pity and her wheelchair, as she recovers from the debilitating stroke she had last August. For my late aunt, who once told me: "when they're young, they'll stomp on your toes. When they're older, they'll stomp on your heart." - how right she was! For my sister, a mother before her time, who misguidedly continues to make up for her lost youth in all the wrong places and with all the wrong people. For my mother, who raised us the best way she could in her own unconventional way, a chain-smoking and loud-mouthed motherhood that turned out four unconventional girls with fewer psychoses than the fingers of their hands. No candidates for a shrink's couch, we.

And finally, for myself. A Happy Mother's Day to me, a Happy Mother's Day to all.