My Mom Helped Raise 10 Children
What she taught me about care, I now teach in another language
My sister - 1
Me - 1
My brother - 1
My sister’s children - 2
My brother’s children - 3
Her sister’s sons (my cousins) - 2
1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 10
When I step back and think about this, I feel in awe and pride for Mama. Her hands, her impossible standards for cleanliness and orderliness, still guide me to this day.
Sometimes I feel sad that she did not get to meet my son, but I know, deep down, my son knows his grandma because I just cannot stop talking about her.
There were days this past 2025 when I was so down that all I needed was to hear my mom’s loving voice, the way she soothed me when she spoke in Bikolano (our native dialect).
It’s the part of me that’s slowly fading as I build a life in the United States. Thankfully, I still have it.
Thanks to group chats with my elementary school classmates and conversations with my Aunties and Uncles.
There’s nothing like the feeling of finding the right word to describe exactly what you’re going through.
When I speak Bikolano, I feel 105% understood.
Lately, I’ve been enjoying teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to two adult students. What I love most about them is that they are just as eager as I am to learn English.
The other week, we reviewed how to spell each letter by using “as in”, for example, “A as in Apple, E as in Emily, I as in Ice Cream, L as in Larry, Y as in Yankee.”
This printout idea is from 2004, because during my call center training, we were taught how to spell over the phone.
I was able to share stories about being very clear in how you spell important information, such as your first and last name, and the most effective way to do it is to spell each letter slowly (so that the call center agent does not make a mistake when typing).
You make sure the other person understands you.
Now, I get to teach effective communication...and I know my mom would be proud.
My son has become my unexpected diction coach.
One day, I was asking him if he had finished watching “Jaws”. He thought the word I said was “Joss”. And I was like, can you please repeat how to say “Jaws” vs. “Joss”? My ears told me they were the same, but he insisted they were not.
Isn’t it amazing how learning works?
One person teaches you, and then you pass it on.
Albert Einstein said, (I’m paraphrasing here) “You don’t learn wisdom in school. It’s a lifelong pursuit.”
My mom bathed, fed, and loved 10 children. She was a role model of how to care excellently through patience, attention to detail, consistency, and action.
I find myself doing the same, with my son, my ESL students, the way I speak, the way I interact with clients.
What Mama gave me did not stay in one place. It moved from her beautiful hands, to my voice, to another language, to people from different parts of the world.
And that, to me, is her legacy.