Light from the hands!

My mother said that she had experienced everything from war and turmoil to the subsidy period and the country's reform... there was nothing she hadn't encountered. At 16, a matchmaker even came to ask for her hand in marriage. But she didn't care about love; how could she live with him? That's what she recounted.

The historic and tragic flood of 1964 devastated the low-lying village nestled beside the Tranh River, a fertile land enriched by alluvial deposits. In just one night in October, my grandmother's warm and lively home was swept away into the sea...

That same year, my mother ran away from home to join the army. She fought alongside her unit in fierce battles in places like Son Long, Son Thach, Son Khanh, Tien Ha, Tien Canh…

The 20-year-old girl joined the Party, raising her hand to swear "Loyalty to the Party's ideals." In a battle, her unit was hit by bombs, almost everyone was killed, but she survived, though severely wounded. Her body was buried under the bombs, she lost her hearing, and even her pearly white teeth were gone…

When she woke up, she found herself at Giang Wharf. She and many severely wounded soldiers were making their way along the western slopes of the Truong Son Mountains to the North for medical treatment. After nearly a month of traveling on a bumpy, camouflage-covered vehicle, amidst falling bombs and exploding shells, some people perished along the way, but she survived.

When my father saw my mother sitting in a wheelchair at the Gia Viễn war invalids' camp, he struck up a conversation with her. By then, she could only hear bits and pieces of what he was saying, but she was so happy to hear the Quảng accent that she shed tears. It was from that war invalids' camp that they found a fellow countryman, and then they became husband and wife.

During the American bombing raids that devastated North Vietnam, in the last 12 days and nights of 1972, pregnant, she went alone to an evacuation zone and gave birth to her first daughter in a bomb shelter. But she was happy to see her child healthy, because both she and her husband had suffered from the carpet bombings with chemical weapons and had numerous wounds all over their bodies.

After the country was reunified and she returned home, she learned that her parents were no longer alive. Regret and remorse suffocated her heart. For all those years serving in the army, their youngest daughter had never once returned home to visit, never worn the mourning headscarf for the parents who had given her life and raised her…

Her husband was a soldier, away for long periods, leaving her to give birth and raise their children alone. The hands that held guns and pens were then the same hands that held hoes to clear land and cultivate fields…

Ignoring the worries of becoming a wealthy woman, haggling over every penny to raise five hungry mouths, and with her only son suffering from Agent Orange poisoning, spending 10 months a year in the hospital—despite his body being crooked, his hands deformed, and his speech unclear—my sister finally managed to say, "Mom!"

Then those hands replaced the eyes! When the wound flared up, the headaches were excruciating, and the eyes and cheeks were plunged into darkness! Those wrinkled hands, once again, sensed everything, groping their way through the pitch-black "night."

Her wrinkled hands adjusted the radio's volume, playing stirring melodies commemorating 50 years of national reunification. Tears welled up in her cloudy eyes. She must be remembering the time when the Trường Sơn mountain range was traversed…

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/anh-sang-tu-ban-tay-3153198.html