All the memories about her are so precious

Source: Taiwan Straits Network

Letter Writer: Guo Kuncong (Xiamen Folklore Expert)

I treasure an old photograph that was taken before liberation. My parents, along with two older brothers, took a family photo together in the courtyard of Tiger Creek Rock. I wasn't even born. From the photos, my mother gave people a sense of virtuousness, chastity, simplicity and foreignness. She was about thirty years old, and it was the time when she was in full bloom. After the alternation of the old and new eras, she has both the virtuous and simple appearance of traditional Chinese women and a fashionable literary temperament.

Virtuous good mother

In my memory, my mother was very capable and skillful, not only making delicious meals three times a day, but also cutting cloth and sewing clothes with a sewing machine. For a long time, the clothes we wore were made by her.

For a while, I lived with my mom. At that time, I was still attending elementary school in the ancestral hall of Haicang Zhen'an Village. I remember that one afternoon it rained that summer, and my mother walked several miles from Songyu Island to pick me up from school. At that time, the rain was pouring, and in order not to let me get wet, she leaned her umbrella toward me, and as a result, she was drenched. I am now in my eighties, and I still remember that picture, and my heart is very warm when I think about it.

Mom who loves to learn

My father knew English and used an English typewriter. He was an intellectual, and there were many books and newspapers in his family. Mom only had an elementary school education at first, but later her reading level was not bad at all. Every day, after she finished her housework, she would take time to read the newspaper and write small articles. There was no television set at the time, so she bought a radio and listened to it every day, gradually improving her cultural level. Under the influence of her father, she also learned some English. At that time, my father was out of the home to support the family, the work was very busy, and most of the time it was my mother who helped me with my homework.

Influenced by my parents since childhood, I also loved to read books and newspapers, and I especially liked to write. When I grew up, I came out of the ivory tower and went to work in the propaganda agency and worked in the journalistic industry, which also had a deep relationship with my family and my mother.

Not a spoiled mom

Mom was very attentive to several of our children. She would always hang a big calendar at home, the kind that tore one page a day. She will mark in advance, especially the child's birthday, and will pay special attention. Every year on my birthday, she would boil egg noodles for me to eat. The eggs must be boiled red, then peeled off and placed in a noodle line. Ingredients such as lean meat are also placed in the noodles. Until her old age, when she was still in good health, she would not forget to celebrate my birthday. Nowadays, everyone goes to the restaurant for a birthday, although it is lively, but there is no noodle line cooked by my mother, and I always feel that something is missing.

Mom is very gentle and loving to us, embodied in every detail of life. At the same time, she is also a principled person, who will not spoil children, and if the child makes a mistake, she will still fight. I remember when I was six or seven years old, because I made a mistake that I shouldn't have made, I was severely criticized by my mother and beaten. That was the only time she hit me, but I was convinced.

Some people say that what is lost is the most precious, and cherishing is the beginning of loss. Thinking back to my mother's teachings to me, looking at the past records, I feel cherished. I miss my mother so much, and everything about her is so precious.

Herald reporter Lin Binbin sorted it out