Instagram user Melody (@meowiie2) shared a heartwarming story about how she and her sister took their maid of more than 20 years to Korea for a holiday, to bid her farewell as she is retiring and her visa can only be renewed one last time.
She thanked her maid, “Auntie Mary”, for raising her up and missing her own children’s life events such as marriages and the births of her 12 grandchildren.
Here is what she said
The reason I went to Seoul:
The matriarch in my household has always been ‘Aunty Mary’ as I’ve known her since she came into my life when I was 6 years old.
Her name isn’t even Mary – but all I knew was that she would be my full time ‘care taker’ while my parents went to work. For the next 24 years she lived in my childhood home bringing up me and my sister.
During these two and a half decades she has given up the opportunity to physically be a part of her own family to care for mine.
She has missed the union of her children, the birth of 12 grandchildren, the death of her parents during this time, and more.
For a long time she was the mother we never had at home. She has lived in Singapore longer than I’ve lived, working as a domestic helper, sending back every cent she makes back home to her family that lives in a village north of Manila.
At 68 years of age, her visa can only be renewed one last time and with life taking me to Sweden and my sister to london, we brought her for a retirement holiday as a thank you and goodbye. How did 24 years slip away so quickly?
Thank you for bringing us up. we love you.