- MOTHER -

(note: wanted you to know that this story's not about me)

My mom only had one eye. I hated her as she was such an embarrassment to me. She cooked for students & teachers to support the family. There was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look & ran out. The next day at school one of my classmates said, "Ewww, your mom only has one eye!" I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day & said, "If you're only going to make me a laughing stock, why don't you just go off & die?" My mom didn't respond & I didn't even stop to think for a second about what I'd said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings & I wanted out of that house & to have nothing to do with her... ever. So I studied real hard & got a chance to go abroad & study. Then, I got married, bought a house of my own & had kids. I was happy with my life, my family & our 'comforts'. Then one day, my mother came to visit. She hadn't seen me in years & she'd not even met her grandchildren. When she stood by the door, my children were scared & I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, "How dare you come to my house & scare my children!" GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!! To this, my mother quietly answered, "Oh, I'm so sorry." & she disappeared out of sight. One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. After the reunion, I went to our old shack where I used to live just out of curiosity. The neighbors said that my mother had died, but I didn't shed a single tear. They handed me a letter that she'd wanted me to have: "My dearest son, I think of you all the time. I'm sorry that I came to your house & scared your children. I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the school reunion, but I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I'm sorry that I was such a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up. You see, when you were very little, you got into an accident & lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with one eye, so I gave you mine. I'm so proud of my son, who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with one of my eyes. With all my love, your mother.