Lovingly yours forever

Multi-awarded CDN senior reporter Ador Vincent Suico Mayol with his mother, Adoracion.

(Editor’s note: The fifth in a series of CDN stories to show that there are indeed certain things that last forever.)
#CDNMAYFOREVER

Many people call me a mama’s boy.

When my father passed away in 1997, I was left alone with my mother who happily took care of me, provided for my needs and taught me all of life’s valuable lessons.

I was 10 years old then.

With just the two of us at home, it was to her that I shared my hopes and dreams, my joys and sorrows.

Though she could not fix everything, she was there to listen, with rapt attention, to the mumblings and ramblings of a young boy.

At such a young age, I knew that there will always be this one person who will love me no matter what.

That one person who, every time I felt like my whole world was crumbling, would simply say, “Just pray. Everything will be all right.” And true enough, it was.

Back then, with her meager salary working as a teacher, Mama was not able to give me the fancy things that other kids my age had.

But what little she had, she gave to me.

Mama chose to have less that I may have more in life.

I recall how she would reserve the best food for me, contented with taking just a small portion of the meals that she painstakingly prepared for her only child.

But that wasn’t all Mama prepared for me.

She got me ready for a life of faith, a gift which no amount of money, not even the world’s most precious gem, could buy.

For there is no greater present than being drawn to God, the source and reason for everything.

Ador and his mother, Adoracion, with the image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu.

From a very young age, Mama cultivated my faith and taught me to love Him in whom we live and have our being. What a legacy indeed.

But while I may live a life of faith today, I harbor fear and regret.

The fear that time will come when God will take us away from each other, and regret that in this kind of love affair between a mother and son, there is no forever — at least in our lifetime.

In life, we are taught that nothing is permanent: people come and go, all things pass, and only God remains.

Partly true.

However, my faith tells me that God never fails those who put their trust in Him.

And I trust and believe that God designed relationships, especially between a mother and her child, to last forever, even beyond death and time.

It is precisely this faith, which Mama instilled in me, that keeps my hope alive that only God can weave magic the way He does.

In 2006, just a year before I graduated from college, my mother retired from teaching in a public school in Mandaue City.

Now at 72 years old, she continues to do household chores at home, to while away the time, while I am at work.

Every Sunday, I accompany her to church and go on dates with her once in a while.

I take her to the doctor for medical care.

Thirty years ago, my mother carried me in her womb for nine months, and nurtured me from the day I was born.

Now in her senior years, it is my turn to take care of the most important woman in my life.

For in my mother, I experience God’s ultimate and selfless love.

She is a mother, not just by name but by her very life.

I thank the Lord for giving her to me.

I thank my mother.

Thank you, Adoracion, for making me the person that I am today.

Without a doubt, you are God’s most precious gift to me.

And yes, a mother’s love is forever, and so is my love for you, Mama.