About my mum

My mum is a gardener. She maintains a deep connection to the Earth around her at all times.

She once told me that when she moved to a new place, she didn’t know what to eat because there was nothing edible growing in the garden. How could she know what to eat without an edible garden? Lots of modern people don’t understand this. I don’t understand it, but my mum does, and through her I feel more connected to it.

My mum talks about the weather a lot. Some people might not pay so much attention to the weather, but my mum does. I can’t tell whether this comes from a deep connection to nature or is just pointless small talk. Either way, I think she’s quite silly and I like to laugh at her.

My mum has a lot of courage. She lived in her hometown for the first 49 years of her life, then she left to make a new life in a different country. This is not a small thing. Later she moved back. This is not a small thing either.

My mum tells me things that her mum told her. Her mother’s favorite was “get a backbone not a wishbone”. Sometimes this makes me angry. Probably it made my mum angry when she was a kid, too.

My mum loves my brother and I a lot. We are so very different from each other. Sometimes she is amazed that she raised two such different and amazing boys.

My mum gave me life. My flesh was given as a gift from her to me and it was a sacrifice for her to give it. Her body was ravaged for 9 months and then her life was ravaged for 20 years as she nurtured me into existence. She didn’t know exactly how to do a lot of it, but she worked hard and it got done. Then I left to make my own way in the world, leaving her on her own. She knew this would happen from the beginning and yet she did it all anyway. I really love her for this.