My mom is my hero. I am only just beginning to understand the depth of her unwavering, unconditional love. The older I get, the more I appreciate all her acts of selflessness I witnessed in my youth.
One memory stands out that embodies the type of love that pours from my mother's heart.
I was still in elementary school when we visited our relatives in China. My uncle gifted me a microscope kit, complete with everything I needed to magnify specimens hundreds and thousands of times their size.
I was overjoyed. I spent all day finding fruits, vegetables, fabrics, practically anything I could find in the house to examine under the microscope. When my mom walked over, I started to show her.
At some point, I said, "I wish I could see something that's still alive and moving."
Without hesitation, she goes into another room and emerges with a lancet device used for a blood sugar test. She pricks her finger and squeezes a drop of blood on one of my glass slides.
I stared in awe as I saw individual red blood cells for the first time with my own eyes, swirling and dancing on their own.
This simple act made an enormous impression on me.
It stands for all the times she puts others before her in a heartbeat. She jumps on opportunities to improve my life fully aware of the pain she’ll have to endure.
Despite all the suffering she’s had to go through in her life, the light in her heart has never dimmed.
There are endless examples of her expansive, generous, radical love. This is one that I’ll remember forever.
