The story of 75-year-old Pantelitsa Frixos who gave her son her wish to marry a man
They say that degrees and wealth do not make you a socially educated person. The lady's story Pantelitsas Frixos from the village of Xylofagou is perhaps one of the most representative examples of this saying.
She is 75 years old, widowed and mother three children, one of whom he recently married.
Mrs. Andri Kounnou published the report in the Cypriot Reporter Online, entitled "Pantelitsa Frixou: The mother must hurt her children".
Talking about this wedding, she grumbles excitedly, declaring proud and happy, not only for her son - author Mario Frixos - but also for his husband, Fanos Eleftheriadis. Opening her soul to the REPORTER, Mrs. Frixou talks about her own life struggle, while sending a loud message to mothers who still refuse to accept their children as they were born.
The story of a wonderful mother
"I was born in Xylofagou in 1941, when mammoths were still giving birth at home. That's how I came into the world. I was the second of 12 children in a family that was not wealthy. Those were difficult times. I went to school until the fourth grade of elementary school. I was smart and I wanted to keep going even if I went with pierced shoes that filled with water whenever it rained. But they took me out to work in the fields and to take care of my younger siblings. I washed them, sewed them, cooked them. From the age of 14 I woke up at 4:00 in the morning to knead, otherwise I had to face my mother's rod. From sunrise to sunset at work. I filled 60 large baskets with potatoes a day. "Once a month, we might as well eat chicken."
The 4 men of my life
"At the age of 25, I married my husband to a consul. He was a very good man, who although at first I was hesitant because I did not know him, in the process I fell in love with him. We had three boys together and we both worked hard so that they would not miss anything. I was going to the fields with a 5 month old boy in my arms. In one basket I had my son and in the other I put potatoes. When in the fields, when in the streets to clean, later I as a waitress in hotels and he as a garbage cleaner in the municipality. Congenitally 45% disabled on one leg, but I never cared. I did not even get a bonus, because I was an illiterate woman and I did not know about them. I only cared if my children were well. Nothing else".
Drowning in front of the child
"It was August 1991, 12. I was working and my husband had gone to sea with our youngest son, Mario, who was then only 23 years old. The sea had risen. My husband knew how to swim well, but it seemed like a bad time. The waves carried him to the rocks. It struck and then drowned in front of our child's eyes. I will never forget the day they told me. "Forget about us," my eldest son told me. I cried loudly. He was such a good man. I was left alone with three children, 17, 12 and XNUMX years old. I had no choice but to become for them both mother and father, trying not to deprive them of anything. "Even when cancer and health problems entered my life that deprived me of half my tongue, I did not bend."
The day I learned about Mario
"I remember Marios was 17 years old. I found him in the chair of our living room crying. "Why are you crying my son?" I asked him immediately. He asked me to sit down because he wanted to tell me something. But I never expected to hear this: "Mother, I'm in love with a man. I'm gay, I'm not like other men. That's why I'm crying ''. I was silent for a while. I wanted to understand what I had just heard. I had not understood anything until then. She was not feminine. I do not know if those around us had understood. But not me. It was a shock in the beginning. "If you do not want me, tell me and I will leave the house immediately", were the words of Mario, which immediately shook me ".
I took a long time to digest it
"I could not imagine my life away from my child. Mother means to hurt your children. Understand and support them. I had to be next to him ”'' To go where to go? This is your home and I love you and I will love you the same. "As long as you are happy for me and I am not going to get in the way," I replied when he revealed to me that he was gay. Even if I withered inside me. Even if I took a long time to digest it. No one told me, but I knew that what was happening to my son was congenital. He would not go through with psychologists or anything.
I'm not educated. I did alone what would make my child happy and not the world. I think that is the right thing to do. "
The world
"In the beginning I also thought about the words of the people. We live in a village. A closed society that I did not know how to react. Fortunately, however, I did not let it affect me to the detriment of my child. I made the decision that I would not listen to anyone, no matter what he said. For me it was more important to be my son than the words of the world. So I walked for so many years and I did not regret it for a moment. Since I, his mother, accepted him, why shouldn't the rest of the world accept him? I allowed him to bring his friends home and behave as he feels. So little by little I got used to it too. When it started to be heard in the village, I never discussed it with anyone. Only some villagers told me "you are withering, yes, there are many". I was not ashamed nor did I try to hide it from anyone. But I have never accepted anyone to speak ill of any of my children».
My husband
"My husband did not live to hear this revelation from Mario. I lived with him, however, and I know first hand that he would never kick our child out of the house because he is gay. He was a man who always offered to his fellow human beings. I think Marios, who does his own charity work through his books, also got it from him. His father would hug and support him, as every righteous parent who loves his child should do. He would have no problem. After all, which parent chases their children? He will die later and will have the weight inside him ".
My son and Fanos
"The man my son chose to have next to him, I love him like my own child. Just like I have the companions of my other children. That's what I think is right. But I can not judge his own parents, who do not treat my child in the same way. I do not know them, which is why I have no right. "Their child, however, is very good and gives me the joy of being a member of our family."
I gave them my wish
«When Marios announced to me that he wanted to marry Fanos, I gave him my wish. I owed it to my child. I sewed and decorated, as I did when I married my other children. I went out and called the village and went proudly to their wedding. I could not not go to my child's wedding, because for some people it was "normal". I hope that at some point all parents who give birth to children with different sexual identities will realize that it is much more important to embrace them and accept them as they are, without judging them or trying to change them. I'm not educated. I did alone what would make my child happy and not the world. I think that is the right thing to do. "
via: Enimerotiko