Nicole Tangonan Quiambao’s mom is Analiza Quiambao.
MY mother’s strength is what taught me how to survive.
When I was just a baby, my father passed away. My parents never had the chance to marry or dream together. One moment, he was there, and the next, he was gone, leaving my mother to shoulder a world that seemed to have crumbled. I don’t remember the pain, but I know it was there, aching, raw, and unbearable. She had me, and that was her reason to keep going. But in the midst of it all, I didn’t see her.
A year ago, my mother lost her father. Just when she thought she couldn’t bear another loss, she lost her best friend. One loss could break anyone, but she faced them all, each one cutting deeper than the last. I often wonder how she didn’t fall and scream at the unfairness of life. But she didn’t. She worked. She carried on, giving me everything she had: her time, her love, her energy, every single day.
I was too selfish to see the pain in her eyes. I resented her for being strict, for not letting me get away with things. I never realized how much she needed me to be there for her, too. I was too caught up in my own world to understand how much she carried. She carried it all for me, for us, and I never saw it.
But now, with the weight of everything that has happened, I understand. Every rule she gave me, every “no” she said, was because she loved me more than I could imagine. She wasn’t trying to hurt me; she was protecting me in ways I couldn’t see at the time.
Now, the ache inside me is unbearable. How could I not be the daughter she deserved? How could I not love her the way she needed me to? Through it all, she never once blamed me. She never made me feel like a burden. Instead, she kept going. She kept fighting. And somehow, so did I.
Through every heartache, every tear, we became stronger. We became a force no one could break. In the ashes of our pain, I found a fire. One that will guide me for the rest of my life. A fire to be the daughter she deserves, to live my life with the same strength she showed me every day.
I will carry her fire with me. Every step I take, every dream I chase, will be for her for everything she sacrificed so I could have a future. No matter how hard life gets, I will never let her feel invisible again. She is the reason I stand tall.
And she always will be.
