Happiness in the Needle Eye
That day, my mother pierced a thread through the needle, instantly as happy as a child.
Seventy-plus-year-old Mother, her eyes dimmed and her hands trembled, it took her a full half an hour to pierce a needle hole, which she could easily pierce in her youth. Fortunately, Mother finally succeeded.
For a mother, piercing a needle hole symbolizes that she is not old, that she still has the ability to mend clothes, that she still has the ability to take care of children. For her, this is the greatest happiness.
At that time, Mother said to us: 'Look, I can still pierce needles and thread, if you have clothes that are torn, don't throw them away immediately, bring them to me, I'll mend them for you. When you were young, you always complained that my patches were too many and my stitches were too loose. I was too busy then, now I have time to do it for you.'
We, the children, exchanged a smile, but subsequently, we each went home to take a few pieces of clothing to Mother. We solemnly handed the clothes to Mother, telling her not to rush, not to wear the clothes immediately, and to mend them slowly. She must wear a thimble to avoid injury.
Watching Mother happily receive the clothes, our eyes welled up with tears.
Two days later, we received a call from Mother. Mother said: 'The clothes are mended, come and pick them up after work, have dinner with us, your father bought a big fish and is heating it up in the pot.'
Mother's tone was unwavering, I had to agree, canceling our evening dinner. On my way home from work, I suddenly remembered that when we were poor, we hadn't seen meat for a long time. Our father would make tools and go to the river to catch fish. He could always catch big and small fish, and when he returned home, Father would make a big pot of fish soup, the delicious flavor is unforgettable to me today.
Thinking about it, I came to the front of Mother's house, and suddenly I smelled a familiar scent again – it was the scent of fish soup being cooked by Father,
I slowed down and savored this familiar scent, and I was suddenly transported back to the long-lost childhood.
When I reached the door, I was surprised to find that my two sisters were standing at the door, they were chatting quietly, when they saw me coming, they asked me to be quiet, and then whispered to me: 'Dad hasn't made fish in a long time, we want to smell the smell of fish soup. When we were young, whenever Dad made fish, the smell of fish soup would drift out of the house. Students passing by our house would always look at us with envy. We would then stand in front of the door and greet them proudly. You don't know how happy it was at that moment.'
We became more and more excited, and our voices became louder and louder. Finally, Mother heard the commotion, and she opened the door and said: 'What are you doing standing in front of the door, come in, you're so big, still like when you were young, no one knows you're coming home.'
Mother's words moved me, I realized that the so-called mending clothes and the so-called making fish soup were all because parents wanted us to come home often. Looking at each other, we found the same answer in each other's eyes,
Father's fish soup was delicious, Mother's mended clothes had fine stitches, but all of this couldn't compare to the family's warm gatherings. Even just chatting, just talking about the past, or even just sitting quietly without saying anything, was so happy and fulfilling,
