Jayrona Erqulova
Golden autumn… once again, falling leaves have covered nature. It has already been four years since I finished school and started university. Time is flying by. I have grown up so fast. I still remember it, even now: when I had just started school, how I cried all the way home from school over a single grade of 4; how every time I stepped through the gate I ran to her calling, “Mom, dear Mom!”; my teacher’s praise, and how I rejoiced beyond measure over the excellent grades I received… and if my homework in some subject did not turn out well, how I took my notebook to her, saying “Mommy”; and how today I miss so much my kind mother, who woke me with a kiss on my cheek every morning so that I would not be late for school…
One day, on my way back from school, I suddenly twisted my ankle, and it throbbed with terrible pain. I thought of telling Mom, but I was sure to be scolded, and no matter how hard I tried to hide it, the moment I came into the house, Mom said,
“What happened to your foot?”
“Doesn’t it hurt badly?” and she fussed over me in alarm. Because of the pain in my body, she herself stayed awake all night and passed the hours until dawn without closing her eyes. She did not even scold me.
When a mother sees her child’s bodily suffering, her heart, it seems, groans in anguish. Even the tears flowing from her eyes like pearls turn out to be the tears of a heart that beats for this very child…
And me? Because of my worries about my studies, I did not ask after her even once a month. Suddenly the phone rang. When I looked at the screen, it read “My Fragrant Paradise.”
“Hello. Assalamu alaykum! Mom, how are you?”
“Wa alaykum assalam! My daughter, are you well? How are things with you? The cold has set in, too. Have you dressed warmly enough? Make sure you eat well. Don’t get sick… The thing is, my daughter, I miss you so much. When you have time, couldn’t you come for a day or two?”
All at once, something began to stir in my heart. Tears of longing filled my eyes like raindrops; it was as if my body were here, while all my thoughts and dreams, like a dove in flight, soared far away, hastening home to my mother’s embrace.
In the village that has fallen silent and empty without me, my mother is waiting, longing for my return!…
Jayrona Erqulova is a 4th-year student at the Faculty of Psychology and Social-Political Sciences of Samarkand State University named after Sharof Rashidov.
Similar Posts by The Mt Kenya Times:
- TVS and Car & General open Nyeri motorcycle training hub in KSh4M skills push
- Nyahururu cannot afford to remain in the dark
- University students want class, not another countdown to crisis
- Staying steady in a first-world rush
- Surveyors must guard Kenya’s land, not sell it
About the Author
