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The Older Generation 1/15/2012 4:20:05 PM
Mom said that today she along with my sister, Olive, Mrs. Stanwick (She is the mother of Michael, Lauren’s fiancé) and Lauren went to American Canyon (a city close by Vallejo, California) to exercise. To her, exercising meant walking. It was not jogging or doing some aerobics. When she answered my call, they just came back from American Canyon and she said that she felt so refreshed.
You see, my mom is seventy-four; and in six months time, she would be seventy-five. Supposedly, old ladies like her walked substantially slow, suffering with all sort of diseases and hunchbacked. At least that was the image I had about old ladies, then. Even their way of thinking was slow to bordering on senility. They would not care about the clothes they wore. They would wear socks that did not match and a sundress fit for old folks. It truly would be sad to see her in this state, indeed.
But for her age, she is amazingly young. I know that I told her that doing all sorts of things or participating in her church activities was not considered exercise. A concentrated effort in exerting oneself for its own sake and not mixed in with doing other things is exercise. And I checked on her daily progress in exercising. So, she normally goes to the Vallejo pier where jogger and fisherman spend their morning leisurely activities. But she still goes to social events. She attend parties, dances and attend the different activities of two different churches like singing in the choir, novenas, prayer meetings and yearly and occasional shows presented to the public.
Aside from her own activities, she truly cared for her children, checking on both of us, my sister and me, on the activities we do. She felt hurt if she was not included in the activities she thought she should part of. And her concern for her grandchildren, Lauren and Taylor, was utmost. When it was time for her to decide whether she would end up in Vallejo or Portland, she opted for Vallejo because she believed that she can be of greater service to her grandchildren. But granted that she was old, she still did my sister’s accounting. Her beliefs were very conservative. When Obama won the election of 2008, she said that she was glad that he won. I asked why. She said that she voted for McCain because McCain did not support abortion even though she liked Obama; that was why. And mind you, she did not put on different pair of socks or dressed up in sundresses for old people. She, however, dresses conservatively, too. We would tease her but all was in good stance.
My sister and I had suffered strokes. It occurred to her that we might die before her and that scared her. She would always confide this to me. I said, why think about that in advance. Let us see where life all takes us. Let us not think about that, for now. Besides, there was the next generation to take care of her, Lauren and Taylor.
My mom. I think that like all good moms, they are the unsung heroes that we take for granted. We teased them. We poo-poohed their beliefs. We leave them to themselves. But, like any good mom, she takes everything in, sometimes to herself and not let things go. She holds us steadfast for when she passes to the next life, there will be no one to lead us.
If I had children, I like to be like her. And if I reach that mature age of seventy-four and maybe more, I like to be that steadfast man that would lead his family just like her, leading the next generation so that the next generation can lead the next one and the next.
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