Bitter and Sweet

One concrete example, not of an OFW but of a sacrificial mom, is my dear friend. She recently arrived from Los Angeles last August. It was no ordinary vacation. She has to be here for two months to let her newborn baby adjust to the new environment. She has to leave him in her mother-in-law’s care for two long years. Even it was so hard for her to do that, as she was a stay-at-home and hands-on mom for almost four years, she made the choice to study practical nursing in California. Being married to a US citizen Filipino man in his fifties, she knows that when her husband will retire ten or fifteen years from now, she will be the breadwinner. She has to invest for their family’s financial future by studying now. She has to sacrifice her time for her baby now so that both her children won’t sacrifice in the future. She left last night, and knowing her, she may have very strong on the outside by not crying in front of her mother-in-law, but her heart was bleeding. She did not even allow her child to be taken to the airport. She said he might sleep and it was already too late. She was saying that to spare her from further pain. I will miss my friend and she said she would me. However, I know in my mommy heart, she would miss her baby even more.