I stumbled upon a journal entry of my 19-year-old self:

Things I hate about my mom

1. She is overprotective.

Every time I am staying out late or doing overnights at a friends house, she keeps on calling me and asking my whereabouts. And this is when I already informed her ahead of time. She asks who am I with, their contact numbers and exact address of my location.

2. She cares too much.

She gives me food even if I am full. Growing up with my mom, thankfully, I never experienced any scarcity of food in our house. She always sees to it that there are snacks and canned goods in case we were not able to buy fresh food. Even if I started to bloat with my slower metabolism as I reached puberty, I can't trim my diet with her always feeding me.

3. She constantly nags me.

She gets angry when I don't respond right away to her instructions. And since i delay doing her orders, she ends up doing them herself. She will then murmur in Visayan,

"Akong sugo, akong lihok", which means,
"My instructions, my actions".

4. She is stingy.

My mom as an accountant, has always been conscious of our expenses. When she gives me money for errands, she estimates accurately and asks for receipts for liquidation of funds. It seems that my service charge is not part of the budget after all.

5. She acts like she can see the future.

When my mom warns me of something that I should not do, I make sure I would follow her precautions. There are instances that I did not listen to her, and ultimately ended up saying,

"I should have listened to her."

It’s a good thing my list stopped here, because the last line summed up this entire journal entry: “I should have listened to her.”

I can’t help but smile while reading through my past self’s outpour of emotions. Nine years and a handful of mistakes later, I can see the things I hated in a different perspective. My mom was overprotective because she cared about me, even though it was a bit too much at times. She constantly nagged me because she wanted me to be responsible. She was stingy because she was setting an example of being thrifty. And finally, she CAN see the future, not because of magic or prophecies, but because she has been through it all. That’s why moms are always right, and we should listen to them.

To the readers, go get your mom and give her a hug. Thank her. Maybe tell her to take it easy on you sometimes. 😅 And don’t forget to tell her you love her. She deserves it.

Happy Mother’s day to all moms out there!

Credits:

Kids World
In Arkansas
Gladwire