On Tuesday we celebrated my Mum’s birthday. I mentioned in this post what an amazing lady she is and how invaluable she is to me. She really is the most giving and caring person I know. Although she lives an hour away, she often visits us to help me look after Winston. Some days I come home and find that she’s cleaned the dishes, done the laundry, cleaned the house, cooked dinner and the filled our fridge! Yeb, her nickname is Speedy Gonzalez.

Out of everything that I have to thank my Mum for, it is the gift of education. You see, my parents were not wealthy, and they never received private education (there were no such thing as private schools back in their days in Shanghai!). But despite their financial hardship, Mum insisted on sending me to a private school to receive the best education they could (barely) afford.

My parents’ friends tried to talk them out of it, highlighting the fact that they would have to work five jobs between the two of them to pay for my tuition, reminding them that I was “just a girl” and therefore “would just be a waste of money” as “she’s just going to get married any way“. But Mum didn’t budge. She believed in me. So my parents juggled multiple part time jobs and eschewed many of life’s pleasures in exchange for my education.

My eyes well up as I think about my Mum’s sacrifices. If she’d wavered, if she’d given into the opinions of others, if she’d considered her own needs… I wouldn’t be sharing this with you today as I probably wouldn’t be a veterinarian/blogger. Thank you Mum so so so much. I love you, and I thank God for you every day.

My Mum & Winston – wearing some of her knitted creations!

Chinese Translation (Click below to read)

[spoiler title=”中文版”]

周二我们一起庆祝我妈妈的生日。我在这篇博文里讲过她是一位多么出色的女士，就我而言是非常宝贵的一个人。她真是我认识的人中最慷慨最有爱的一位。尽管她住的地方离我们开车要一个小时，她经常来探访我们并且帮我们照顾宝宝。有时候我回到家发现她洗了碗，洗了衣服，打扫了房间，准备了晚餐并且装满了我们的冰箱。是的，她外号飞毛腿冈萨雷斯。

在所有我要感谢我母亲的事情里我最要说的是教育。你们知道我父母并不富裕，他们也从没接受过私立教育（过去的上海没有私立学校！）。无论他们经济多么窘迫，妈妈坚持送我上私校接受他们（将将）可以提供的最好的教育。

当我想到我母亲的牺牲时我的双眼噙满泪水。如果她动摇了，如果她听了别人的劝告，如果她考虑她自己的需要。。。我今天将不会和你们分享这个故事因为我很可能不是兽医/博主。万分感谢我的妈妈。我爱你，每当想到你，我就感谢我的神。 [/spoiler]