Whenever she could not cajole her cello to perform the way she wants it to, my daughter would accuse me of not having whacked her into becoming a virtuoso when she was a baby. She heard that some mothers do torture their kids to become virtuosos. It tickles her time and again that my hands were always too tired; after whacking her brother.

I have always wondered why my mother never told me that when I was born, I was born to be happy, that Happiness is my inheritance. Instead, she bludgeoned me whenever she wants to drive home a point. As a war widow, with me tagging along, she had remarried to become the third wife of a certain man and she inherited all his children, larger in numbers than a football team.

An inheritance is a set of tangibles and intangible items you receive from an ancestor or predecessor. Our inheritance is every thought, belief and action step that has ever existed.

The bludgeoning by my mother, if it did anything at all, since much to her frustration I have a thick skull; at least awakened my curiosity to try to make sense out of events or situations. Whenever she is not agitated by me (which is not often, because I will always wreck her nerves, likewise her many step children too, will wreck her nerves) I noticed my mother is happiest when she is making all other people happy; in particular, with her good cooking. She nurtures and encourages only as a mother knows how. All her step children grew up to love and honor her, me too!

The family that I too, "inherited", have our fair share of sickness, death, heart aches and financial woes, but my mother never gave up; not on me, not on my step father, not on any of the many kids. Even thought I taught the kids to sing like a choir, it seemed such a miserable life for such a beautiful lady like my mother, the way I saw it. But my mother have her own ideas, she gave the family tenderness without disparity between her own children or that of another woman; and she even sews to improve the financial situation when father's business suffered.

After high school, I left for the big city to work and help support some of my mother's children. It was grace that made it was possible for me to support myself through college and received overseas' education as well. After that, the spouse and I set up our family.

Our children have grown, and I found that the more I am able to find the beauty in my mother's life, the more I am able to find beauty in my own life; plus,

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