English 111 Fall 2001

Jerreemar W Tidewater Community College

Ever since I was a little girl I have always been inspired that someday I would be as successful as my mother Dominga Ramos.  She is a very special person in my life, a dedicated mother.

In raising my child, I have maintained strict dispositions like that of my mother, to teach moral values as well as wanting my son to learn and to be accustomed to my Philippine culture.  For example, in the Philippine culture as my mother had taught me, I have taught my son to respect and show sign of respect to his elders with a gesture called Mano po, also known as “blessing of the hand”.  This is usually done after church and is when a child takes the elders back of the right hand to his forehead.  

In my early teen years my Lola (Filipino term for “grandmother”) had passed away in the Philippines and my mother had then taught me the Rosary Novena.  This is another Philippine custom of the loss of a family member, which also known as “prayer of the loss or dead”.  This is where people gather at the family's house usually done the day after, and prays every evening for nine days.  The prayer service is a Philippine Catholic custom to pray with the rosary for the soul of the dead.  Within the past year my son had experienced such a loss of losing his twin cousins in February 2001. And it was then when he too learned the Philippine custom of the Rosary Novena.  It is difficult to explain death to a child.  And a hard decision for me to teach my son the Rosary Novena, not knowing how he would react on the different customs between American and Philippine.

As ambitious as my mother is of me and firmly establishing in my head  to head to “study hard” and “set goals in life”, I would at no time realize that one day in life I would be walking in her footsteps.  I found myself reminding my son of those same objectives so that when he grows up he could be what he desires to be in life.  In addition to, my mother has always been supportive in the decisions that I have made and also has allowed me to learn from my mistakes.

My mother is best described as “a woman of patience.“  She has been very understanding of the circumstances I have experienced and has continued to offer moral support.  For example, if I would get discouraged my mother would give me encouraging talks with her soothing voice and tell me to “be patient.”  Learning this trait from my mother, I have had many situations where I would give encouraging talks to my son in that same soothing voice.  In addition to my mother has had offered numerous times to help me out financially.  As another Philippine culture, the parents offer their support even financially to their children regardless of age.  And with the countless Philippine customs that I have experienced, I would also help my son financially if needed for as long as I am living.

These are some of the many characteristics I admire in my mother and hope that one day I will also obtain these same characteristics.  In noticing various attributes that are similar to my mother, I still have a lot to learn.  Although with her success as a mother and a person she continues to inspire me to develop myself into a better individual.