Daughter-In-Law:"When I cooked food which are blend, you will grumble that they are tasteless. Now that I have cooked saltier, you complained that you can't swallow this at all! What exactly do you want?"
When the son came back, the mother immediately ate the food without a word. She stared at him. The son took a taste on his mother's food and spitted out immediately. He ranted at his wife," Didn't I told you that my mother cannot take too salty food?!"
The wife shouted,"OK! She's your mum! You cook for her in future!" After saying that, she stormed into their room angrily. Feeling helpless, the son told the mother, "Mum, don't eat this anymore. I will cook you a bowl of noodles."
The mother said, "Son, you have something to tell me? Don't keep everything to yourself." Son:"Mum, I am going to get promoted soon and my upcoming working schedule will be very, very tight...and as for my wife...ummm...she said she will be going out to work...."
The mother understood what he meant and said in a begging manner,"Son, please don't send me to the Old Folks' Home.."
The son remained silent and tried to think of a good reason to persuade her mother.
Then he said," There is nothing wrong with the Old Folks' Home. Once my wife had went out to work, no one will serve you as well as the Home which provides you meals and care. It would definitely much better than being at home."
The son went for a bath after that and went into the Study Room. He looked out from the windows and thought back and hesitated a while....His mother has been remaining as a widow since she was young with him, and brought him up painstakingly, solely.
She tried all means to earn as much as she could, in order to support him in studying overseas. Yet she expected nothing nor used her past painful experience to threaten his son to be filial. While now, his wife is threatening him with the stake of their marriage.
"Should I send my Mum to the Home?" He asked himself. "The only person who will accompany you till the end of your life would be your wife.." said a friend before.
"Your mother is in old age now, and if she's lucky, she might be able to live for a few more years longer. Why not be filial to her for this period of time? reminded by some relatives. He was stuck in a dilemma. He did not want to think anymore, in order not to affect his decision.
The son found a Home with high standards, built on a beautiful and transquil mountain top. He told himself that he would feel much better when the more he spent. Then the son helped his mother into the lobby of the Home, the 42" TV was turned on. The programme shown on screen was a comedy. But no one was laughing. A few old folks, dressed similarly in clothing, were sitting there, in a daze. There was one who was sitting improperly on a sofa, there was one who was bending down to pick up a piece of biscuit from the floor, there was one who was talking to himself...
The son knew that his mother likes sunlight, so he chose a room with ample sun rays shining into the room. By viewing out from the room, was a big piece of greenery scene. Few nurses were wheeling some old folks out for some fresh air. It was so pathetic of silence in the background. The sun would still need to set down. Soon it was dusk.
The son told the mother,"Mum, I am leaving." The mother waved to him to say goodbye, opening her toothless mouth.. He turned back to look at his mother. She was full of grey hair and wrinkled skin with deep set eyes... He found that she was really old.
He remembered when he was six, due to some circumstances, his mother cannot bring him along with her thus temporarily placed him at a relative's home for few days. He recalled hugging his mother's thigh and begged her not to leave him alone. In the end, his mother never leave him alone and decide to stay with him.
He stopped thinking and left. When he returned home, his wife and his mother-in-law were busy discarding things from his mother's room, happily. One of the discarded item was his tall trophy which he won as First Prize when he was young. He wrote an essay on "MY MOTHER". The second item discarded was a dictionary. That was the first gift from his mother, who scrimped and saved for a month in order to buy for him.
He shouted,"Enough! Stop discarding anymore!" His mother-in-law cried," There were so much rubbish. If don't discard, there would not be any place for my stuff.." His wife continued,"Yeah! Need to dump away that old, stinky bed of your mum too. We will buy a new bed for my mum later," He saw some pictures from the stack..they were taken at a zoo and amusement park when his mother brought him there. "These are precious belongings of my Mum! You can't discard them!"
"What sort of attitude is this? I demand you to apologise to my Mum NOW!" ranted the wife.
The husband said," When I got married with you, that showed that I will love your Mum too. But why can't you do the same too?"
He went back to the Home and saw his mother weeping in between her frail legs. She was missing the moments when her son would apply ointment for her every night... The son kneeled before her and said,"Mum, here I come. I brought the ointment too." The mother said," I will apply it myself, Son! You still need to work tomorrow. Go home, Son!"
Son said,"Mum, please forgive me! Let's go home!"
Hope this is inspirational and touching to you. Without our parents, we won't be here. No parents will resort to harm their own children. They only want the benefits for them. For Daughters & Sons: Please remember to return gratitude to your dads and mums. For Daughter-In-Laws & Sons-In-Laws: Please love your in laws as you did to your parents, coz without them, you will not find your partners...they are parents too..
