A Birthday Gift For Mum...

It's my mother's birthday tomorrow.

I'm sending her to a real fancy spa for the day. One of those expensive ones.. with nice beautiful Balinese deco, scented candles, expensive massage oils, milk baths and drinks served to you right at the doorstep.

My other half gave me a funny gaze when I told her about my idea. It wasn't too long ago that she wanted to go to one of these spa's and asked me to sponsor her. I of course vehemently condemned the idea, going on and on about the evils of such wasteful indulgences and how women the world over were being cheated of their money. Actually, I just didn't want to pay. 

I still think its a waste of money and crazy expensive... and a complete indulgence.. but this time round, its the right thing to give my mother for her birthday. You may think I'm having double standards, saying no to my other half, but agreeing with it so freely when it's for my mother, but that's not really the case. 

To say my mother has had a hard life would be understating things. She's been through a lot. She's suffered depression, schizophrenia, being knocked and left to die on the road by a truck, walked the streets homeless and penniless, lived with no roof on her head for a good few months, been robbed and nearly raped, beaten up, physically abused, lived in a mental asylum and church benches and God knows what else. She has at some point or other in her life, begged for food, fought for even a penny of discount from stores on purchases and ate food laid out on streets, meant for idol worship. This was the mother I know who would lived off the charity of strangers and other people for days that stretched to months that finally stretched to years. The same mother that I discovered had a fair amount of savings sitting right in her bank account years later. When I asked her why she didn't spend some of that money to feed herself instead of begging for food, she told me that the money was meant for her old age, when she had to pay for her own medical bills, for when she wasn't strong enough to beg or fight for food on the table anymore. I remember nearly crying when I heard that. 

So ya, this is the same mother. And a big part of me feels like for all the hardship she's gone through in life, she deserves to experience a bit of indulgence and comfort at least once in her life. Life's not fair I know.. but wherever it is within my control, I'd like to see her know the experience of not only bitterness and hardship, but also of comfort and luxury.. however small or brief it may be. Then at least when she reaches the end of her life, she could look back and say that it wasn't all bad... I guess sending her to a spa is my own little way of trying to ensure that. 

Happy birthday ma..