My client R turned up for his personal training session tonight at the same time, same venue as usual. The only difference was in his towel. It was not his usual orange or blue coloured towel…but a luminous green towel with two embroidered rose motifs…Waah!

He tried to hide the two rose motifs by flipping them inward but my alert eyes caught sight of them before he could succeed. Needless to say, I teased him about the towel.

Yes, the orange and blue towels are in the laundry…but why this towel?

Towel with two embroidered rose motifs

Then R related the story of the towel to me. And after hearing it, I was naturally touched.

R came to Singapore half a year ago to work. Before he left for the little red dot island, his mother gave him a towel for him to use when he needed it. And it was this very same towel with the two rose motifs.

No matter how she attempted to mask the real reason, I could still sense it. The towel is more than just a piece of cloth for R to use. It is also a symbol of her unconditional love for R. Everytime R uses the towel, his mother wishes him to remember her  - the love of a mother thousands of miles at home.

In all our mothers lie a maternal instinct so strong that she will willingly sacrifice herself (if need be) to protect her young. A master at warrior camp once related this tale to us - of how the mother bear charged at a group of hunters fearlessly when they wanted to capture her young.

A group of five young men saw two bear cubs and moved forward wanting to capture them. Sensing the mother bear’s presence, they fired a shot in the sky. This got the mother bear running off. The bear cubs, seeing the young men approaching them, cried out. The mother bear, on hearing the desperation in the cries of her young, turned around, stared at the young men and subsequently charged at them fearlessly. The young men fled in separate directions.

A mother’s love for her child is so great that she will go to such extent to ensure they have the best of everything in the world. And for this, I am grateful to my own mother for her unselfish love, care and sacrifice. I salute all mothers in the world. Maybe I should hint to my mother to get me a green towel with two rose motifs as well? Hahaha…But I know my mother. She will buy me the ‘good morning’ towels instead. That’s my mum!

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