The Binary Thinking Mother

Mothers are binary thinker. Their base of thought consists of “0” and “1”. They are the “0’s”. And the “1’s”, their kids.

As the mother’s motto has always been – the best for themselves, is the best for their kids – this binary principle applied so well to Mur, my wife.

We visited our kids, Faye, 31 and Farrah, 30. They live in Toronto. Faye is taking a Master Degree in Architecture at the University of Toronto, while Farrah works as part-time bookkeeper, and at the same time, pursuing her passion for dancing in the big city. Farrah chose that career path, although she has a Bachelor in Bio Systems Engineer.

When we got to their place, I didn’t know that Mur had been taking mental notes of what are missing, and what were needed to be done in our kid’s apartment.

The next day, Farrah left for her bookkeeping job. And Faye has shown us the way how she took the subway train to her University. As Faye is taking a summer class, she cut short her being a tourist guide for us, and left us to do our own thing; roaming around the city, taking pictures.

Then, Mur and I went to Duferrin Walmart, near their apartment.

Mur bought toilet rugs, toiler paper, soap dish, liquid soap for dishes, foam brush for dishes, paper towel holder, dress hangers, kitchen stuffs, shampoos, cookies, junk foods, bananas, oranges, and nuts.

When the kids got home in the evening, their fridge had been clean. Mur threw the expired items living there. Mur cleaned their stove, too, because at one time, their smoke alarms went off as one of the burners had stuff in there that gives smoke when used.

When Farrah opened the fridge, she saw the fridge don’t clutter anymore. Farrah kissed her Mom. “Oh Moms, You’re so cute! She twinkled her eyes, too, when she saw some new stuffs her Mom bought. She giggled dangling them to Faye’ eyes, as though saying. “These are the things, we desperately wanted to buy.

Delighted of the unexpected fortune, Faye said, “Oh Moms, you’re such a mother”. Faye’s even more ecstatic when she tasted her mom’s “ginisang sardinas” (sauteed sardines). I felt, Mur had been happy, seeing her kids appreciating her.

Faye and Farrah live in Toronto for two years now, but they haven’t had the time to see the beautiful places and exciting things Toronto offers. That was the whole point why we spent our holiday in Toronto. Mur wanted them with us spending holiday, all expenses paid. We went to CN Towers, Niagara Falls, and we watched the first round of Roger’s Cup Women Tennis, and the double exhibition match between the Serena Sisters and Monica Seles and Eugenie Bouchard, Canada’s fastest rising tennis star.

Mur’s binary principle: Seeing things in order as the best thing for her, would be the best thing for her kids, too – I believe would live throughout her life.