For Cancer Awareness....a tribute to my mom Maletina Etuale.. Mother, Sister, an aunt, a grandmother and a friend. I couldn’t have found a better woman for a mother if I tried. Not a mean bone in her body. A woman that would take a shirt of her back to give, would starve herself for the sake of someone else. A mother with a story, individual with a smile. If you ever needed comforting, her living room was the place to be. Needed re-assuring that things were going to be okay? She was the one to talk to. She had the heart of gold and the smile to seal it. She was an amazing patient person. She always had the ability to take what life had to throw at her and make the best of the situation. She was a very religious person and I honestly believed, she used that as an anchor when things didn’t go well. She had a genuine concern for the well-being of her family. She had a strong sense of right and wrong and always tried to live up to those high moral standards. My mother had a serving heart, she believed in serving her family and making sure all her babies were okay. In the last few months of her life, though she could barely walk, and weighing less than 100lbs or so, she would find a way get up out of bed to hobble over next door to my house to make sure I was up to get ready for work, or that Joey was up for school. She was a simple woman with amazing qualities. In hindsight, I think when Mom was diagnosed with cancer, I didn’t take it as serious as I should have. Maybe the fact that I didn’t quite understand and didn’t want to because I was afraid of what I might find if I looked. Sometimes I feel like tomorrow morning I’m going to wake up because she came in to make sure Joey is up and getting ready for school. I wish I would’ve spent more time with her, sat down and talked to her more, cooked for her more, taken her for rides more often, massaged her feet more often and just wished I could’ve been a better son to her because she was so deserving of that. In and during my own personal struggles, mom was there every bit of the way. She taught me a lot, when I was in a very dark place during a specific time in my life, she taught me how to value people, how to see to see things not for what I thought they were, instead for what God deems them to be. She showed me that through God and Love, all things were possible. She would say, “Va’ai oe si a’u tama, a’e faatuatua ile Atua, ma maua oe ile Alofa, E fa’amanuia ina oe”. Today, I see so much of my mom living through my son Joseph, his caring for others and love for her is a true testament to her love. Mom, I thank God for you, and what you represented. I thank you for all that you did for me. Thank you for being honest with me, for never giving up on me, for caring about things that mattered to me, for being my best friend. Thank you for being a source of stability in my life, for knowing exactly what to do and what and say when my world was falling apart. Thank you for making me your famous chicken soup when I was sick, for always talking to me about the importance of our family saogatupe. I always felt better after talking to you. Thank you for always spoiling your Joseph. You always knew me better than anyone else. Thank you for always inspiring me to do things I wouldn’t normally do, and for always listening when I had something to say. Miss and Love you Mom.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 20:55:39 +0000