When I was just nine or ten years old, back in 2010, when we were living inside a dormitory unit in the hospital, my mother mentioned that she had ten years left before she would get very sick and die.
She told me her story about her sickness and how severe it was. In the past, my mother contracted a severe infection in her throat, which was left untreated; now, it reached her heart and caused tons of complications.
She had to get heart surgery at the Philippine Heart Center, which left our family in massive debt, but as long as my mother felt better, it was all okay.
She also told me that while the surgery made her feel better, she was only given ten years before she had to get surgery again, which was super expensive and that it had a meager chance of being successful.
So she decided that she would not get surgery again and give her retirement money to us.
Mind you, I was just ten years old when she told me, and I constantly begged her ever since to get surgery in the future. The thought of my mother dying frequently reminded me, and so every time I would get home, I would research the best heart surgeons in the world, best hospitals, and I would not spend any money at school to help save for her operation in the future.
One time, my parents found me hiding money underneath my bed; they asked how I accumulated that amount of money, and my mother cried when she knew the reason. She told me not to worry about it and that she would get surgery in the future.
Now, as an upcoming 20 year old this October 15, I think back to that and consider whether that was true. Was she saying that to calm me down? or would she get the surgery.
We tend to think that money does not buy happiness or that I can only give you temporary joy; this is entirely false.
Having money would mean that I could provide my mother with the best care in the world. Provide her with the best surgeons in the best hospital in the world. If I could do that, I could spend more time with my mother.
I am a quiet person, I don't talk to anyone very much, yet my mother knows everything about me. I wish I could have converted all that time studying and made her proud to just talk to her. Having small talks and sharing embarrassing stuff with her.
There were tons of instances when my mother should have died; the first was when she gave birth to my younger brother. And now covid, she should have died as she has a severe heart condition and asthma, but for some miraculous reason, she survived.
And for that, I thank God that I get to fix my mistakes in the past, not spending enough time with her.
To everyone reading this, I urge you to spend more time with your parents.
Please don't make the same mistakes I did, and I focused so much on her leaving that I did not think about spending more time with her in the present.
Spend more of your limited time with your loved ones. Without them, we are nothing.