My unchanging hero (CNF)

‎Not all heroes wear a cape and fight monsters. Some are mothers, struggling to give their kids a good life, against all odds they might face. ‎ https://images.ecency.com/DQmWP4G6zz1Ci7yReGwBKszMh4W3oFkJ1WJbe6PFdgFyxsK/1762294326774.jpg) *This image was generated using metaAI* ‎I never for once heard the alarms go off, but somehow, everyday, she managed to wake up by 4:30 a.m to cook, clean, and prepare us for school. ‎My dad was always away on his business, thereby leaving our Mom to take care of their three kids. Though Mom had her own job which she never missed, she still managed to cook us fresh meals everyday, dress us for school, and still make it to her job. She'd wake by 4:30 a.m, and start preparing our meals, then by 5:30, since I was the oldest, she'd wake me, and while the food is getting ready, she'd help me do my homeworks. By 6am, she'd wake my siblings, and I'll help them with their assignment, and then we'll prepare for school, and before the school bus comes around, our lunchboxes are already packed, and we're already neatly dressed, and waiting. ‎ ‎Life was too easy with her, that I never imagined that she could be stressed out from all the work she had to do, both at home and at her job_until her company sent her to another part of the country for a job that'll for last two weeks. ‎Those two weeks were the longest weeks of our lives. It felt more like two months....two years, even. ‎Father was around, so it fell on him to fix us everyday for school. But instead of waking up on time, I'd sometimes be the one to wake him. ‎ ‎"Dad, we're going to be late for school." I'd complain, tugging at his clothes. ‎ ‎"Jane, sleep a little more. You're too young to be awake by this time." ‎ ‎"But we'll miss the bus if you don't wake on time." ‎ ‎"Don't worry. You don't need the bus, I'll drive you to school." And just like that, he'll sleep right back, until he was ready to begin the day. ‎ ‎For two weeks, we were fed noodles, snacks, fries, and a whole bunch of other things that Mom would never feed us. For lunch, he'd give the teacher some money to buy us takeouts, and that was against my mother's rules. She believed that home-made meals were essential in raising kids. ‎ ‎"Mom,please come home." My siblings would cry whenever mother called. ‎ ‎"But your dad is there with you." She'd tease, and they'd burst out crying. ‎We had no way of knowing if she was aware of our predicament or not. ‎ ‎One day, we missed school because Dad overslept, and that was our first day of exam. I cried so much that day, but he kept promising to speak with the teacher so I could write the exams I had missed. ‎ ‎Finally, the two weeks came to an end, and Mom returned. We all hugged her, crying our eyes out because we missed her. ‎Dad wasn't an exception. Infact, he was way happier than any of us. ‎"I'm glad you're back. I didn't think I could survive another day." ‎ ‎"Look how thin you all are. Don't worry, Mom is back." ‎That night, we ate a heartwarming dish, prepared by our wonderful mother, and the next day, it seemed like we had gained weight overnight. ‎ ‎It was after this phase of my life, that I decided that my mother was my hero. True that father takes care of most of the bills, but the person who bears the weight of everything without a complain, is Mom. And that's what a hero does. ‎They make sacrifices for the ones they love without a complain, and we'll never know how much work and effort they had to put in to see that everything works out perfectly.