09/05/2026
๐๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ | The Many Stories of Motherhood
Motherhood isnโt just one story.
People often imagine motherhood as something simpleโa woman raising her child beneath the same roof, and a love that is always present and easy to recognize.
But thatโs not always the case.
Itโs not always soft, itโs not always present, and itโs not always easy to understand.
Some mothers were there in ordinary momentsโin packed lunches, sleepless nights, and quiet reminders to take care of ourselves. In early mornings when the house is still dark, and someone is already folding uniforms, preparing everything before the day even begins. Their love wasnโt loud, but it stayed.
For some, motherhood existed through distance. It lived in voices that stay strong even when it hurts. It lived in balikbayan packages filled with carefully chosen things, as if love could be sent in pieces. Because they chose to endure, they chose responsibility just to keep their children standing.
And some received it from different people. The grandmothers who pour hot soup when their apo isnโt feeling well. The older sisters who became mothers too soon. The teachers, guardians, and titas who stayed a little longer just to make sure a child was safe. They may not be called โmothers,โ but they have given and sacrificed just as much.
Perhaps motherhood isnโt something you can simply define.
Some mothers loved quietlyโin early mornings, in tired eyes, in the small things done every day without asking to be seen.
Not because they didnโt want to be seen.
But because they were being mothers.
Written by ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ
Illustration by ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐พ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ
