The greatest fortune of my life is my mother’s love for me. I cannot thank God enough for her. She is a pillar of strength in my life. She also happens to be the one person with whom I fight almost daily, but she never stops loving me despite all my misbehaviors.

My mother grew up as the daughter of a British Military spy/army officer and landowner in Pothowar, Pakistan. She lost her father at a young age and had to take on the role of a mother herself for her younger siblings. From a young age, my mother displayed immense warmth and energy, something I have inherited from her. She is a force of nature, my mother. We have never seen her down in the mouth or anxious, but always upbeat and proactive. She spent most of her childhood on her farmland, moved to Lahore to complete her higher education, where she was eventually married off to my father.

I left Pakistan in 2010. Since then, my mother and I have communicated mostly through technology. If there is one person who calls me daily, and at times several times, just to ask me, how am I doing, where am I, or when will I get married? It is my mother. When I moved to Berlin, my mother convinced my father to pay for my exorbitant airfare, twice a year, to visit Pakistan. My father obeyed, and I was never left on campus during holidays. When I moved to Cambridge, I began to spend most of my holidays with my godmother Susannah Wilson, but my mother never felt jealous or slighted. She instructed me strictly on being respectful and kind to Mrs. Wilson. Ever since, I have moved to New York- I have two homes and two mothers to go to. God has blessed me with two figures who have my best interests at heart, and they may or may not agree with all of my life’s choices, but their love and support are unfailing. Even on days when the world looks scary and unfriendly, it is my mothers who lift me back to myself.

When my mother visited New York, I had just moved to my new place. I never really had a place of my own before I came to this city, but my mother helped me settle down. She did not desire to go out and sightsee. She spent most of her holiday renovating my flat. My father always says, ‘Paradise lives under your mother’s feet’, meaning, paradise is something which needs to be earned through service to one’s mother. I feel that I have perhaps failed my mother in many respects, but she has never failed to love me.

Recently, my parents have moved to New Zealand to be with my brother and sister, and my mother’s calls have become less frequent. I used to get annoyed by her frequent calls and text messages, but now I recognize their importance. No one can and will ever love me like my mother.

Ami

Lots of love, Ami, may you keep smiling like this forever.