Happy Mother’s Day From Xinran and other MBLers

Xinran Xue

When Chinese Culture Revolution first broke out, I was seven and a half years old. One day, my neighbour, a young mother to a three years old daughter, received nightmarish news — her thirty-two years old husband had been tortured to death by a group of teenager Red Guards. That night she told her daughter a story, a story that I’ll remember forever.

Here is the story: A baby caterpillar asked her mother why she had never seen her dad. The mother said that when the baby was still sleeping in her belly, her dad was working hard to grow wings in a little house. When the baby was born, daddy became a beautiful butterfly. “If you want to see dad, you must sleep well, eat well and study hard, then someday you will grow beautiful wings that will take you to see him,” the mother said to the baby caterpillar.

From then on, my neighbor’s daughter often asked me if my father had also turned into a butterfly. At that time, I, along with 13 other “political orphans,” had no father.

I often think of my neighbor, the mother who endured so much hardship for her daughter. …Heartfelt thanks to our mothers for being a love bridge between life, families, generations, and cultures!

Happy Mother’s Day!

来自欣然的祝福及一个中国妈妈的故事：

中国文化大革命爆发时，我只有7岁半。我有一位邻居，是一位年轻的母亲，她的女儿只有三岁。一天，她得到一个噩耗，她32岁的丈夫被一群十几岁的红卫兵折磨死了……那天夜里，她给女儿讲的故事飘进了我永远的记忆……

一只小毛毛虫问妈妈，她怎么没有见过爸爸。妈妈说，在宝宝睡在妈妈肚子里的时候，爸爸在一个小时房子里努力长翅膀，当宝宝出生后，爸爸就化成了有着美丽翅膀的蝴蝶。要是你想见爸爸，就要好好睡觉吃饭学习，那样就可长出美丽的翅膀，去见爸爸了……

从此，我那个小邻居便常常问我，你的爸爸也化作蝴蝶了吧？那时，我与其他13个政治孤儿都没有父亲。

我常常想到那位母亲，难以想象她是如何为了心爱的女儿忍辱负重的…

敬祝每一位母亲安康如愿！

感谢母亲在我们的生命中犹如一座爱桥，为我们传承生命，融合家庭，传递文化！

— Xinran (UK)

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Mama is my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love, and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love. Happy Mother’s Day!

— Julie Zhu (China)

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I didn’t know what being a mother means until I became a mother myself. When my daughter was born prematurely and had to be in the NICU for three weeks, my mother called me from China and told me to take care of myself. “You need to be happy, healthy and strong for your newborn and your family,” she said.

Now I’m a mother of two children. Whenever I feel stressed, frustrated or exhausted, I think of my mother. How she raised five children on a remote state-run farm, where she, as a biologist, had to endure family tragedy, physical labor as well as political persecution. How she made clothes and shoes for my brothers and me after a long day of work, and how she brightened our shabby apartment with beautiful songs on her four-string lute (月琴）, which she had played since a young age.

Later my mother returned to the city to be a librarian. In the evenings, when my brothers and I were doing homework, she would teach herself English. “If you keep learning, you will never grow old,” she once said to me. After retirement, she took up Chinese water-and-ink painting (水墨画) and, with passion and devotion, transformed herself into an artist. She still paints several hours every day.

My mother has taught me about industriousness, integrity, perseverance, and most importantly, love. The love of who you are. The love of learning. The love of life. Thank you, Mama.

Happy Mother’s Day!

— Fan Wu (U.S.A)

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每次要提到我的母亲, 我眼前就有这样一个情景出现:

我小的时候家里用的还是铁锅柴灶.  记得有一天我坐在灶前要帮妈妈烧火做饭. 我一个劲的往灶里加柴, 好好的火苗很快成了烟雾, 正在炒菜的妈妈弯下腰拿过我手中的火钳在灶里左右上下晃动着把火中心掏得空空的,很快的那火焰就蹭蹭的开始往上冲, 再把火钳递给回我说; “你看, 火要空心,人要忠心. 你对妈妈一定要忠心, 要做一个诚实有爱心的娃儿哈!”

4,5岁的我好像都不明白什么是忠心, 但我明白这诚实的娃儿就是不撒谎, 爱心就是对人好. 从那一时刻我学会了怎么样架柴烧火.

每一个母亲都是一个伟大的艺术家, 用心尽力的雕塑创作我们一生的作品—我们的孩子. 母亲节快乐!

— Lin Ping (UK)

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今年的母亲节，我在伦敦，妈妈在江苏老家，万里之遥。

想起4年前父母一起过70岁生日，都是妈妈一手操办。她把小时候的玩伴当时在叫做“大队”和“生产队”里的好友都请了过来，还安排了接送的面包车。父母商量，宴席不叫喜宴不叫寿宴，妈妈叫人在横幅上写着：七十岁答谢宴，她在致辞中感恩兄弟姐妹和乡亲在她忙于工作的时候帮着照顾家庭和孩子。看到酒店里19桌客人我是真心敬佩：她迎接、寒暄每一拨客人，没到的还电话联系，问人家到哪里了；率领我们姐弟到每一桌前向亲朋致谢；最后坚持自己给每一桌每一家发寿桃和寿面；最后，再站到门口送别。当然，这并不包括她为这一天所作的所有准备。年轻的我们在外地工作，没给她帮上什么忙，惭愧哦。她说：你们回来妈妈就最开心了。

她感恩于生活，以达观作为对岁月的回报，而且70多岁仍然充满热情，事必躬亲，我希望她还有这样的80、90岁喜宴。

我的超级妈妈！

— Red 红艳 (UK)