I have no current photos with my mom, I am like many children of emigrants who cannot leave their country because it is very complicated to get the visa to go to see her.
Mom and Dad have been living in the USA for more than 40 years, and I live in my country Venezuela, I am currently waiting for an appointment for my residency process in that country.
I belong to that huge group of Latin Americans who can't be close to their own.
However, the love I feel for my mother does not need a visa, she does not need tickets, no boarding pass, no passports, no borders, she travels endlessly, and crosses every border, I belong to the group of people who are far from mom due to life circumstances and the rest is history.
Consequently, love eliminates distances and feels permanent.
Elsie Arratia is already 86 years old she is always active and very lucid, it is a joy to have her alive, I haven't seen her physically for a few years now, my mom has 7 children (5 girls, 2 boys) I am the eldest daughter of the family clan.
I love my mother and I remember her always, I talk on video calls with her every day, I take care of her in the distance and watch over her as I can.
My mom taught me to overcome obstacles and stumbles, that life calls bumps of growing up, she didn't leave me an inheritance in money, but she has left me the love for family, the value for education, gratitude, empathy, I don't have current photos, but we have thousands of moments saved in our cell phone memory.
She, my mother, is on my other side of the universe.
The love and admiration I feel for my mom has been born since I have the use of reason, for the wonderful human being that she is.
At my mom's house the door is always open to enjoy the best arroz con pollo, to have a conversation with the right word, the morning coffee, the glass of red wine with her children's friends, but above all, she is always willing, attentive, and with a smile to protect the family.
Another fun fact about me that may surprise you is that I was raised in a museum and frequenting them was a common family activity.
My mother Elsie Arratia and grandmother Margarita Soto were both self-taught artists who specialized in "naive painting techniques," a style embraced by those without formal art training.
Art holds a special place in my heart, nurturing my wandering spirit and love for exploration. I am seriously contemplating incorporating a holistic wellness and medicine art show in the future. What do you think?
Today in this post I want to pay tribute to my mother who day after day, constantly and silently fulfills that selfless function and nourishes my inner child every time I knock on the door of her heart, I feel blessed to have experienced the blessings granted by love, happy true love day mom, happy mother's month.
Motherhood needs to be de-romanticized.
Times have changed and I think about the mothers who are exploited in their role, by family, parental, social and political abandonment. Because of all the domestic violence that they and their children receive.
To the mother victim of the war, victim of physical and mental violence, the elderly mother, discriminated by race, color. I suggest this topic in later post.
No matter what your circumstance is, being a mom goes much further than just having children, to all the mothers who read me, I wish you happiness not just one day or during the month of May, but every day of your lives, and I want to say something to all the Ladies of the hive: We are doing our best.
Janitze.
Separator made with Canva by @janitzearratia
Any images in this post are taken with my iPhone 12, the Infinix pro-note 30 or with the camera eighties Rolleiflex 2.8 f, and edited with Canva
Translation with |DeepL