Mother

Her name is Hj. Roslidar,  82 years old now.  When she was 5 years old, her father passed away. And The story begins.  

A Young and orphan, Roslidar, lived with her mom and three other siblings, she was the youngest one. My grandmother was a farmer as well as a rice seller. When Ied Mubarak came,  the tradition in her village (Bukittinggi)  all the orphan made a line and they would get donation from the rich. Mom said she would never forget that moment and reminded her children to be kind to other orphans as well. Based on her experience, I decided to open a boarding house for the orphan and students in need. At the end of the day house we call it as asrama Roslidar to remind me of my mom's story.

Eventhough my mom has always had a passion for education,  she had to stop her school at 6th grade of elementary school. The reason is because she followed her oldest sister to move to Central Java.  Although she didn't have  high level education she has always encouraged her children to pursue their education as high as possible. Me and my brother finished our doctoral’s degree and became a lecturer. Two of my sisters finished their undergraduate degree and now working as a teacher, two of my other siblings finished high school.

My mom has raised 6 children which was not easy. When I was two years old and my younger sister was still 3 months old in 1978,  my father got an accident. It turned out He had  alzheimer disease. That accident was extremely horrible,  the injury got his head. My father was a police officer, fifty years old at that time. My father was in coma for fourty days. What made us sad was my father wasn’t capable of working and earned money anymore. The impact was he couldn’t think clearly like he used to be but we were try to be still happy since we still had him untill he passed away in 2009.

My mom was just a housewife before. Since the accident happened to my dad,  she took over the position as a head of family.  Time flies She sold any kind of vegetable and “kerupuk”, why vegetables?  Because in order to sell it, it doesn’t need big amount of money. Whenever the vegetables left,  we would cook the rest and she fed her children with a bunch of  vegetables. Mom was still doing this job until I was in the high school,  then she stopped working when my oldest sister became a teacher.

My mom is originally from Minangkabau, she was a very talented cook but since 2016 when she was 76 years old, she got her first time alzheimer. She started to be more forgetful. At 78 years old, the disease consumed my mom health inevitably and now We, her children, is taking care of her. She can't take shower, by herself,  she is easily to get scared to be alone, she even,  can't listen us properly. We need to write so as to communicate with her patiently.

Right now, mom forgets how to recite ayat when she performs prayer but thankfully she can recite quran every day especially several short ayat in juz 30. She forgets the name of her grand son or friend of me sometimes but one thing she always remembers is to ask me for bringing some donation to a mosque daily, to share food to the needy and to do some good deed every day. Those are what she always tells me over and over again. Yes,  she has been living with me since she had hearing impairments for the first time. Now, Alhamdulillah I still have time to take care of my beloved mom,  to see her angelic face every time, oh yeah especially when she is sleeping. It’s very special moment for me. It’s my golden time. When I can keep company her and look after my Mom in her old age, becoming  weakear and being  sick. Thank God for this moment.