house of uncommons

i know, i know...

i know you guys have read this story before. maybe through emails or long SMSes. but hey, i stumbled upon it in my highschool ygroup files and read it again, at a time when i was feeling a bit lonely and alone. it struck me again, yeah, the way it struck me straight up to the heart when i read it the first time.

one more time, y'all... reading this makes you want to have that really relieving tear downpour you may want to have after a cozy meal and a good coffee...

here it is...

Story of one-eyed mom

My mom only had one eye. i hated her... she was such an embarrassment...
my mom ran a small shop at a flea market. she collected little weeds and
such to sell... anything for the money we needed she was such an
embarrassment.

there was this one day during elementary school.. it was field day, and
my mom came. i was so embarrassed. how could she do this to me? i threw
her a hateful look and ran out. the next day at school...

"your mom only has one eye?!?!" ..and they taunted me.
i wished that my mom would just dissappear from this world so i said to
my mom,
"mom.. why dont you have the other eye?! if you're only gonna make me a
laughingstock, why dont you just die?!!!"

my mom did not respond.. i guess i felt a little bad, but at the same
time, it felt good to think that i had said what i'd wanted to say all
this time.. maybe it was because my mom hadnt punished me, but i didnt
think that i had hurt her feelings very badly.

that night... i woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of
water. my mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that
she might wake me. i took a look at her, then turned away. because of
the thing i had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at me
in the corner of my heart. even so, i hated my mother who was crying out
of her one eye.

so i told myself that i would grow up and become successful. cause i
hated "my one-eyed mom" and our desperate poverty..
then i studied real hard. i left my mother and came to Seoul and
studied, and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the
confidence i had.

then, i got married. i bought a house of my own. then i had kids, too..
now i'm living happily as a successful man. i like it here because it's
a place that doesnt remind me of my mom. this happiness was getting
bigger and bigger, when..

what?!
who's this?!
...it was my mother...
..still with her one eye.
it felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. my little girl ran
away, scared of my mom's eye. and i asked her,
"who are you?!"
"i dont know you!!!" as if trying to make that real. i screamed at her,
" how dare you come to my house and scare my daughter!"
"GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!"

and to this, my mother quietly answered, "oh, i'm so sorry. i may have
gotten the wrong address," and she dissappeared out of sight.
thank good ness... she doesnt recognize me..

i was quite relieved.
i told myself that i wasnt going to care, or think about this for the
rest of my life. then a wave of relief came upon me...

one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. so, lying
to my wife that i was going on a business trip, i went. after the
reunion, i went down to the old shack, that i used to call a
house...just out of curiosity there, i found my mother fallen on the
cold ground. but i did not shed a single tear. she had a piece of paper
in her hand.... it was a letter to me.

my son... i think my life has been long enough now.. and... i wont visit
Seoul anymore... but would it be too much to ask if i wanted you to come
visit me once in a while? i miss you so much.. and i was so glad when i
heard you were coming for the reunion. but i decided not to go to the
school. ...for you...and i'm sorry that i only have one eye, and i was
an embarrassment for you.
you see, when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost
your eye. as a mom, i couldnt stand watching you having to grow up with
only one eye... so i gave you mine... i was so proud of my son that
wasseeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. i was
never upset at you for anything you did.. the couple times that you were
angry with me,.. i thought to myself, 'it's because he loves me..
my son... oh, my son... i dont want you to cry for me, because of my
death. please dont cry...

my son, i love you so much

posted by kurama minamino @ 8:13 PM