I stopped talking about it since the day I fell off the chair while trying to impress my mother. It was a regular thing that I did. I would look for a wooden chair and call out to my mother. Thereafter, I'd stand on it to show her how tall I'd grown.

My siblings thought it was silly. Sometimes, I too thought it was silly. Who would want to see something like that? But my mother didn't care, she never questioned it.

Every time I stood on that chair, she'd stop what she was doing and just watch me do all the silly things you could think about: standing on one leg like a flamingo or leaping like a frog.

I never really understood why she gave me that kind of attention. But her smile was charming, and warm, it calmed me down and gave me wings. I would gaze into her eyes, but I was too young to understand that I was looking into the window of a soul.

My habit grew stronger each time my mother praised me with her beautiful words. It made me do it on the seat of the bus while traveling long distances, at any restaurant while waiting for our food.

But time slipped through my hands like an hour glass. Each year, I stopped doing it, it pleased my siblings and encouraged them to stop teasing me. 

On the other hand, it made my mother feel different. I saw it on her face when she would look at me, but she would try to hide it from me. 

The last time I saw that face was when we went camping outdoors and I got lost for hours. She was relieved after she found me hiding under a log. I didn’t like the spiders or the thought of wild animals. But there weren't such things at those camps, it was just my siblings trying to scare me.

Another time was when I fell over the table. It was the last time I did it, because mother was the one who rushed me to a clinic. Luckily, I didn't break anything… at least, that's what I thought.

She never told me why she used to cheer for me, while my siblings rained on my celebrations.

Now, every time before I go to work, I stare at her portrait that I hung in the living room. It pumps adrenaline in my body. It gives me strength to start the week.