Mother
Text/Sheng Min
My mother was a very ordinary person, without a particularly high education and position, nor did she have an otherworldly appearance; However, in my heart, she is another extraordinary person, who raised me and my younger brother to grow up, and ran our big family with my father.
Mother was born in the countryside in the 60s of the last century, and her grandmother gave birth to a total of 6 children, and her mother was the third, and she died when she was 12 years old. In addition to going to school, my mother also had to take care of my younger sisters, and I heard my mother say that her younger sisters were still young and didn't let her go to school, so they would often tear up her books, and my mother often cried secretly. Later, the family's conditions were limited, and my mother had to drop out of school to help my grandfather at home before she finished high school.
Later, because there were not enough teachers in the village primary school, my mother went to the school to work as a substitute teacher. Through his own efforts, he obtained a secondary school diploma, obtained a teaching certificate, became a formal teacher, and has been working in a rural primary school until retirement. In her more than 30 years of education, she has trained countless students, but my mother always remembers the names of many of her students when she recalls the past. Now, when I go back to my hometown with her, she calls out her former students by name.
My mother is very dedicated, and she has to take care of the housework at home after work during the day, and she only has time to prepare lessons and write lesson plans late at night. At that time, the conditions were not as good as they are now, the summer nights in the countryside were hot, and there were many mosquitoes, so my mother was wearing long pants, putting a bucket of water under the table, and dipping her legs in the bucket to repel mosquitoes. Rural teachers often lead a class by themselves, and each subject has to write lesson plans, and her lesson plans are one by one, every word is a stroke, neat and tidy, for decades, without a trace of slackness. I always asked her why she was so serious, and she told me that there is no time off for teaching, and that every student is the hope of a family. My love of writing was also influenced by my mother, and I followed her handwriting since I was a child.
My mother was very virtuous and had a very good relationship with the neighbors, grandparents, aunts and aunts, and never quarreled. My mother would give them gifts every holiday, and now that my mother is 63 years old, she still remembers the birthdays of her relatives, and sometimes I forgot my grandparents' birthdays when I was so busy, she would send me a message to remind me not to forget to call them.
Mother is very thrifty, rarely buy clothes for herself, sometimes take us to the street to buy clothes, she herself is reluctant to buy, a piece of clothing in the hand looked and looked, touched and touched, tried and put down, I feel that she still likes it very much, see her look at the tag price and gently put it back. Every time I see such a scene, I feel very uncomfortable, and I don't want her to buy me clothes later, even if I do, I will pick a cheaper one myself. Mother's feet were particularly rough because she did more farm work when she was young, and the heels would wear out after the socks didn't last long, so she would repair the broken socks and continue to wear them. Although the mother is very generous to herself and others, the elders in the family will not be less filial piety money when they celebrate the New Year's holidays. When someone in the family comes to visit, she will cook a lot of dishes to entertain the guests, and when there are no guests at home, she and her father can solve a meal with a plate of vegetables and a plate of tempeh.
Mother is very strong, if you do something, you must find a way to do it best. When she was the principal of the village primary school, because the teaching resources and level in the village were very scarce, she and her colleagues worked together to pay close attention to the quality of teaching, and each topic and question type would be repeatedly explained to the students, so that the final joint school examination results of the village primary school were among the best. She often uses a text in a primary school textbook to teach us the story of the first week of childhood, "We must be angry." I'm not dumber than anyone else. What others can do, I will definitely be able to do with hard work." Whenever I encounter a setback, I always remember these words she said, and I keep trying.
Mother was very strict. When I was in elementary school, my friends and I went to the lake on our way home from school and secretly rowed a boat, and one of my classmates said that he would tell my mother when he got home. I asked him not to sue, and I accidentally touched the corner of my classmate's eye with my fist during the pull, and I was blue at that time.
When I got home, I didn't dare to tell her, because I was worried that the parents of my classmates would come to my house to "ask the teacher for guilt". However, the time to come still came, and the classmate's mother brought him to my house. When my mother heard what happened, she immediately apologized sincerely to the other parent, asked me to kneel down in public, and tore off the branch of the bamboo broom and beat me severely. Since then, I have never played in private or had an argument with my classmates.
My mother didn't give me a lot of material wealth, but her character influenced me subtly, teaching me how to behave in the world and how to treat my work with heart. We are older, my mother is getting older, and now I just hope that she will be healthy and stay with us for a little longer.
Sheng Min, graduated from the China Academy of Art, a member of the China Democratic League, has been teaching in the Department of Ceramic Industry of Hunan Ceramic Technician College since 2011. He is now a member of the Hunan Calligraphers Association, a member of the Yuelu Printing Society, and a director of the Hunan Young Calligraphers Association.