"My mom only had one eye.
I hated her.
She was such an embarrassment.
She cooked for students and teachers to support the family.
There was this one day during elementary school
where my mom came to say hello to me.
I was so embarrassed.
How could she do this to me?
I ignored her.
Threw her a hateful look and ran out.
The next day at school one of my classmates said:
"EEEE, your mom only has one eye!"
I wanted to bury myself.
I also wanted my mom to just disappear.
So I confronted her that day and said,
"if you're only gonna make me a laughing stock,
why don't you just die?!!"
My mom did not respond.
I didn't even stop to think for a second about what I had said,
because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings.
I wanted out of that house and have nothing to do with her.
So I studied hard, got the chance to go to Singapore to study.
Then, I got married.
I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own.
I was happy with my life, my kids and the comforts.
Then one day, my mother came to visit me.
She hadn't seen me in years and she didn't even meet her grandchildren.
I yelled at her for coming over uninvited.
I felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me.
Even my children ran away, scared of my mom's eye.
I asked her, "Who are you?!" "I don't know you!!"
as if trying to make that real. I screamed at her,
"How dare you come to my house and scare my children!
GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!"
And to this my mother quietly answered,
"Oh, I'm sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address."
And she disappeared out of sight.
One day,
a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house in Singapore.
So I lied to my wife that I was going on a business trip.
After the reunion,
I went to the old shack that I used to call a house.
Just out of curiosity.
My neighbors said that she died.
I didn't shed a single tear.
They handed me a letter that she had wanted me to have.
She wrote:
"My son,
I think of you all the time.
I'm sorry that I came to Singapore and scared your children.
I was so glad when I heard you were coming to the reunion.
But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you.
I'm sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up.
You see,
when you were very little,
you got into an accident
and lost your eye.
As a mother,
I couldn't stand watching you
having to grow up with only one eye.
So I gave you mine.
I was so proud of my son
that was seeing a whole new world for me,
in my place, with that eye.
With my love to you,
your mother."
He burst into tears.
He could never forgive himself for making the biggest mistake of a lifetime.
He realized how lucky he was to have a mom like her
and how selfish he was that never even cared for her.
It was an extremely sad day for him.
He would never get his mom back. "
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