When the most important woman in your world celebrates her birthday

You suddenly don't know what to say. Or what to do.

I didn't give her a gift. I greeted her happy birthday. I stayed up til midnight for me to be the first one to greet her. I know it sounds cheesy but I always do that. I stay up til late for me to greet the person that I love.

And I love my mum. Very much.

Mum and I had been through a lot. Back to my old rebel days. When I was wagging school and not wanting to go to uni.

I'll just get a full-time job and I'll be fine, I told her when I was fifteen. I didn't want to go to school.

I didn't like staying at home and I always picked fights with my stepdad. I thought that by marring my stepdad, I would be saying goodbye to my real dad.

I was a confused and stupid kid.

But my mum put up with me. I'd like to think she abandoned me in the Philippines for a few years when I threatened to get pregnant and run away from home buit I think she did what she had to do.

She sent me to Manila so I can realise how lucky I was to be given a good opportunity.

I realised it. I realised that it wasn't because she didn't want to take care of me. But it was because I was being a pain in the ass and making her life a living hell.

Yeah, I tend to do that to the people I love.

She provided me with a good future. Something that even my real dad couldn't offer. I hated her for taking me away from Manila. Away from my grandmother. Away from my dad and away from my relatives.

But later on, I embraced being Aussie and made the most out of it.

My mum is my very best friend. I tell her everything.

From what I've been upto at work. The workload I do at uni. The guys that made me cry. The guys that make me ink. The friends I get in conflict with down to what I should wear every single day.

I treat her like my sister. I talk to her like my friend. I joke around with her and we share a good laugh once in a while.

She trusts me. She knows I wouldn't do anything that will jeopardise everything that she's worked hard for.

And I won't disappoint her. I enrolled at uni and got myself a good job.

It makes me proud when I listen to her tell her friends that her daughter has a good job and is doing well at uni.

The only thing that she doesn't approve of is my smoking.

I can't watch you buy your death, she said when I asked her if I can smoke in our patio.

She loves me so much that she'd give up her own life for me.

Sure, she's annoying, but all mothers are anyway. Sometimes I want to kill her but I'd kill for her. The things I'd do for this woman, you wouldn't want to know.

She worked so I can study in one of the best schools in Manila.

She never put her job ahead of me. I am always her first priority.

She cancels any appointment she has when she knows it'll be in conflict with my timetable.

Coming from a child that is a product of divorce, I'm happy that my mum found another love. Of course, before I didn't see it in that sense but now I do.

She has so much love to give that I thank God every single day for making my mum happy again.

Back in the days when I had to listen to her cry herself to sleep, I told myself that I'll never leave my mum.

I will never put her in a nursing home when she gets old. And I prayed to God that maybe someday she can grow old with someone.

Someone who will take care of her. And she did. I'll be forever grateful to God that He gave mum a reason to smile. Someone who takes away her worries and pains.

She is such a wonderful person that I can't even begin to tell her how much she means to me. From the little things to the ultra extravagant things that she does, I respect her.

She'll always be the only person I'll have a soft spot for. I know it's cheesy but I love my mother.

I'm proud of her and I respect her for bringing me up by herself without any help from my dad.

So tell me, how can you begin to tell a wonderful woman how much she means to you?