one for the moms (and the dads too)

From Friday's Philippine Star:

We six remaining children have gotten used to Mom calling us in the morning to check on us. Last Monday, late in the afternoon, as i was waiting for the cab, I gave her a call. She was so glad to hear my voice and explained that for that day, she refrained from calling any of her children and waited for who would remember her. "You are the valedictorian, Ina, only you remembered," she said. I was cut to the heart, for the reason I chose to call her was so I could quickly hang up in case the cab arrives. It's plain old Mom, remember? And I didn't even miss her call that morning.

And that is how it is with us children. Our parents love us with intent, unconditional and devoted while we love them in return almost by accident, because it's convenient. Like Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie wrote, "Parents rarely let fo of their children, so children let go of them. They move on, they move away. The moments that used to define them - a mother's approval, a father's nod - are covered with moments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, when the skin sags, and the heart weakens that the children understand; their stories and their accomplishments sit atop the stories and accomplishments of their mothers and fathers, stories upon stories, beneath the waters of their lives." - Marina Toreres