Mother, and Myself

[Slice-of-life realism + a woman’s growth + stay-at-home mom + husband and wife standing together + hardship before happiness + no melodrama]

At twenty-seven, Su Wan is trapped in a rented apartment, trapped by her child’s crying, and trapped in a life where she has to ask others for money and is afraid to spend, or even go out and meet people.

No education, no special talents, no way out: she is just an ordinary stay-at-home mom.

So poor she compares prices when buying groceries, so poor she’s afraid to buy new clothes, so poor she lies awake at night staring at the household accounts.

She wants to help her husband carry the burden and avoid weighing down her own family, but with no one to look after the child, she can barely take a step.

Driven to desperation, she quietly takes on the lowest-paid handicraft work.

Her hands get rubbed raw, her prices are pushed down, and she has to shoulder the cost of defective products herself. She has broken down and given up, yet every time she grits her teeth and gets back up.

Just as life starts to settle down, her husband decides to quit his job and start a business.

She wants stability; he wants to take a chance. They argue and compromise, and their little restaurant grows from a precarious venture into a thriving business. Their lives get better.

No melodrama, no taking down scumbags, no face-slapping comeback.

Just an ordinary woman and an ordinary couple, going from heartbreak, helplessness, and self-doubt to supporting their family, finding the light, and becoming who they want to be.

The world says she is a wife and a mother.

But she wants to tell the whole world: A mother is a person in her own right, too.