I rarely ever get to spend Mother’s Day with my mom anymore (as she’s been in China around the holiday for the past few years). As I grow older, any quality time spent with my mom is harder and harder to come by. Suddenly, it’s more preferred to celebrate birthdays and New Years with friends, weekends are spent doing whatever it is that twenty-something girls do, and family vacations become a thing of the past. I lived about an hour’s drive away but I didn’t go around all that much. We checked-in regularly on the phone but I didn’t talk all that much about going-ons in my life.
It’s kind of funny how despite the fact that I’m thousands of miles away from home now, we have become closer over the past year. I write this blog, in part, so that my mom will always be included in all the big and small parts of my life. And I know she is still my biggest fan. After all, who else alerts me when I have a typo or tells all her coworkers about this blog or stalks keeps up with my social media faithfully?
Ah social media and parents… it could be a dangerous combination.
My mom insists on tweeting even though I’m pretty sure she has no idea how to use Twitter (not that I do either… I mean, I only ever use one hashtag?!). Mainly she retweets my tweets, others’ tweets of my posts, and pretty nature pictures. It wasn’t unusual for me to wake up to notifications that she has retweeted 12 of my tweets. When I scrolled through her account, I facepalmed.
“Look!” I groaned, shoving my phone into D’s face. “My mom’s account is so embarrassing! It looks like I set up a second account just to promote myself!”
I briefly contemplated making her get rid of it, because 1) it’s embarrassing, and 2) it’s not even like she has any followers, but I kinda loved it too. My soul swelled with warmth. For only mothers will care enough do this. This little gesture, as misguided as it is, says to me: I support you and want to help you succeed even if I’m not sure how. And that means the world to me.
Recently, I’ve been able to spend two weeks with my mom in Beijing. I am so grateful to have had this time to create special memories. Not only did we do the fun things like eat delicious meals and see pretty sites, she was also there to accompany me to the eye center four mornings in a row for my Lasik surgery (not even D was willing to do that!), sacrificing a large chunk of her own hard-earned vacation time to sitting in a waiting room.
Only a mother would do that. Only a mother would wake up early and take an hour-long subway journey four days in a row in order to see her daughter through such a minor surgery. And no matter how old I am, only a mother will fill that role.
We didn’t get to say a proper goodbye before she left. Ours was rushed and on a hot, cramped subway train while dozens of people pressed up against us and I struggled to fight off waves of nausea. My mom’s stop came up and as she moved toward the door, we were instantly separated and waved a hasty goodbye before she stepped off.
But if there were time, I would have hugged her tight in a hug that says, Thank you for everything that you do. Thank you for supporting me and this crazy dream. I love you always.
Happy Belated Mother’s Day (since I can’t seem to get my crap together to publish a post on time)!
P.S. Last year’s post here.
P.P.S. You can follow my mom on Twitter here.
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Beautiful words, Anna. Nothing beats time with your mum, especially when those times aren’t so frequent. Also, on a totally unrelated note – I really love your dress in the first picture, I’m all about the stripes :D
Thanks Marcella! I’m sure you understand not being able to see your mom as much! It’s what makes the small moments of time now so special!
I love the dress too! It was another great purchase from Taipei, hehe.
Anna, I’m in tears. Your mom sounds like such a gracious woman. I’m so happy you could spend all that time with here. I started to follow her on twitter of course. She does share really pretty pictures. I wish her the happiest Mother day, week, and for you guys to keep creating memories all around the world!!
Awww thanks Isabel. You are too sweet! I am so lucky for having a mom who supports me doing something so unconventional, which I know you know all about! And I’m sure my mom thanks you very much for following, haha!
I’m sure the rushed goodbye said just as much to her :)
I know nothing about mothers and mother’s day, since I’m pretty sure my mum pretends I don’t exist… we’ve been estranged for a long time, it’s starting to become a little funny.
:( :( I got so sad reading your comment. But I disagree on one part: you DO know about being a mother because you have Pork Chop. I don’t care that he’s just a tiny hamster, but I’m sure you mother the hell out of him! x
Don’t be, it’s just one of those things in life!
I LOVE Pork Chop! He’s yet to agree to the snuggles, but I’m working on it :) I do chop little hamster sized portions out of our veggies for him. And buy expensive blueberries so he can have one (and I can have the rest haha)
How cute!! I’m sure he’ll warm to the snuggles soon! I had pet bunnies and they were super skittish at first, but I eventually won their love through food!
Gorgeous! x
Thanks Terri! x
What a lovely post, Anna! It’s so nice that you were able to spend some time with your mom even if the goodbye was rushed. And how cute about her Twitter account, haha! Love that.
Hehe I know! I think it’s cute now too though it was so mortifying at first!! And yeah I’m glad to be able to meet up with her in China! It’s so funny how we both have to travel so far to meet up now.
What a sweet post Anna! Love that your mom and you are close even though she’s not with you all the time. And love all the pictures you guys have together!
Thanks so much Christine! It was really nice to create some memories! I know you’re in the US – I hope you had a great one!
Aw I loved reading this Anna! I think it’s so so funny that your mom retweets everything. My mom is under a pseudonym on facebook (yup…) but she’ll comment on random things. I don’t mind though ;)
Haha, your mom is so cute too! It’s so funny when parents want to get involved on social media. I don’t mind anymore, but it was so mortifying when I first saw it!
Aww, such a heartfelt post about your mom! Her Twitter account is pretty hilarious. I also had to go back and read your old Mother’s Day post again. That’s so great that you got to spend a couple weeks together.
Yeah! Spending any amount of time together is so hard to come by now! And we both have to fly halfway around the world to see each other!
Love that you got to spend some time with your mom. I’m a total ‘mommy’s girl’ and we talk ALL THE TIME which can be hard to travel. But I know, like you, I’m so lucky to have her support and love on my crazy adventures. Ps I totally followed your mom on twitter. I’ll give any travel- supportive mama some love ;)
Awww thanks Hannah, I’m sure my mom loves the follow, hehe! I’m so glad that your mom supports you too. It really makes all the difference!
The only update I do on my Twitter is the auto tweeting of my new blog posts, done by WordPress. Hashtags? I use them but on Instagram. I’m probably more rubbish than your mom in terms of Twitter knowledge!
PS: I didn’t even call my mom on the actual Mother’s Day, I only did it like, the following evening. Reading your post makes me feel like an asshole now. Although I try to convince myself that if you love your mom, everyday is Mother’s Day! :D
Yes, you’re right! We should treasure our moms everyday and not just on one day of the year! I’m sure you’ll spoil your mom somehow the next time you go home. :)
This is so cute! I miss my Mom every day and I can’t believe I am actually going to be able to see her again in just a few weeks! I am so excited!!!
Ahh so exciting!! I know how hard it is to see our mothers when we’re outside our home country. I hope you enjoy every precious moment together!
I really will. She is like my best friend, but more. I can’t wait!
Mums are great aren’t they? It’s so sweet that your mum joined Twitter to share your posts with the world ;-) I hate it when I miss my mum’s birthday or Mother’s Day when I’m away travelling, and always try to doubly and triply (are those even words?!?) make it up to her when I get home. I don’t think she minds too much though as she knows how happy I am when I’m travelling and she loves to see me happy :-) When I spent 5 months in South America last year her and my dad used to sit down once a month and have a little blog reading evening together…aw bless :-)
Awww that is so sweet!! :D I’m glad that both of your parents are supportive of your travels. My dad is still unhappy about this, so my mom’s support really means a lot to me. I know she wants me to be happy too. :)
Aww. Super sweet post! Your mom sounds awesome and she’s blessed to have a grateful daughter like you.
Thanks Soapie! I’m lucky to have a supportive and understanding mom like her!
What a nice post Anna – I love all the pictures of you two together – you can see not only the family connection, but also how much you care about each other :)
Thanks Jenia :). I kept on making my mom take individual pictures with me! It’s also so rare to have pictures together now!
Aw, your post almost made me misty-eyed! Also, because I can relate SO much to SO many parts of it – especially the bit about my mom being the most regular follower and promoter (and stalker!) of my blog and everything associated with it! Only moms have the infinite love, patience and goodwill for their children for something like this. Aw, I’n a few hours away from my mom and suddenly I miss her so much right now! But thanks for a super lovely post – lots of hugs to you as well as your mom! <3
Thanks so much Ami! Mothers are the best and you can always count on them to be your number one fan! My mom even knows all my most regular commenters and where they’re from, etc.! I hope you get to see yor mom soon and can give her a huge hug!!
Awwww, this was so sweet :)) Mother’s are absolutely the best and deserve way more credit than they get. Realizing this more and more as I get older…
Definitely! The older I get, the more I appreciate it! It means so much to me that my mom supports me. :)