Mother's Day2026 Essay1

Title： New Beginnings in the Rain

Author： Sai

“Tomo-kun kept saying, ‘I want Mommy to come with me,’ but he still managed to go into the classroom by himself. He did such a good job.”

“From now on, you two can walk to school together in the mornings.”

Today was my son’s entrance ceremony for elementary school. Sitting there with my daughter, now a third grader, chatting about little things, the ceremony felt warm and peaceful. After it ended, the three of us walked home together. A gentle rain fell steadily, turning the asphalt a deep shade of gray.

That rain reminded me of my daughter’s entrance ceremony two years earlier. It had been the same kind of chilly drizzle. But even under the same rain, my heart had been in a completely different place.

At the time of my daughter’s ceremony, I felt as though being a single mother meant something was missing from me. I kept wondering what the other parents thought when they saw me attending alone.

“Maybe they see me as someone lonely… someone who couldn’t come with a partner on such an important day.”

Consumed by that anxiety, I barely had the emotional space to interact with anyone. I got through the day with only the minimum communication necessary.

As I walked across the rain-soaked schoolyard, I felt as though there were an invisible wall between myself and the rest of the world — a transparent barrier I could never cross. Even as I smiled at my daughter in her special moment, deep inside I was blaming myself for not being able to sustain my marriage. Quietly, inwardly, I was crying.

Four years ago, the three of us moved to a place where we had no connections at all. The years we spent there gently stayed beside my wounded heart and slowly helped it heal. When my daughter moved up a grade, and my son graduated from preschool, I decided, just as I had originally planned, not to return to my hometown but instead to move somewhere entirely new.

But as the preparations went on, exhaustion began to build in both my body and mind. When I first arrived in this town, I had been completely alone. Yet over time, I found friends who supported me and built a life here. Did I really need to leave and dismantle everything we had created?

Still carrying those doubts, I reached the night before the move.

Trying to distract myself from the loneliness, I turned on the television. By coincidence, the anime playing happened to be about a character moving away. Watching the story unfold, I suddenly found myself reliving all of my own fears about the move. My breathing became shallow, and tears would not stop falling.

Desperate for someone to help me, I stepped away from my children and rushed into the bathroom. With trembling fingers, I called a friend, but she didn’t pick up.

“I want to throw everything away…”

Just as fear was completely taking over, a LINE notification appeared.

“Sai-chan, you’ll be okay.”

The moment I saw those words, the fog of fear surrounding me lifted all at once. Over these four years, how many times had my friends carried me through difficult moments?

Friends are different from the family we are born into, and different from the bonds created through marriage. No promises bind them to us, and yet they choose, of their own will, to stay by our side. What a precious thing that is.

“It’s okay. When we first came here, I was scared then too. But in the end, this became such an important place for us. I’m sure the new place will become that way too.”

After leaving the gymnasium where the entrance ceremony had been held, the three of us stood together in front of the school gate and took a photo. The drizzle was still cold, but I was no longer shrinking under the imagined judgment of others.

Instead of hiding the reality of our lives and trying to perform the image of a “normal family” for other people, we would create our own version of a happy family — with our own hands, in our own way.

Just as we always have. And just as we always will.

The meals we shared with laughter. The nights the three of us slept huddled close together. The bond that grew stronger each time we overcame hardship. Those accumulated moments have become the foundation of our lives.

“Alright! You both did great today at the entrance ceremony and the first day of school — let’s go eat something delicious!”

“Yayyyyy!”

I am no longer alone.

No, maybe I was never truly alone to begin with.

The three of us are one team.

As the breeze of this new place brushed against my cheeks, I could feel my feet standing firmly on the ground. I think I’ll be able to love both the past we’ve lived through and the future still waiting for us. Together with the people I cherish, I will keep walking toward the future we want to create.

Call for Donations
Thank you for reading this essay to the end. This essay was written by a single mother Sai for Mother's Day2026. The non-profit organization The nonprofit organization Single Mothers Sisterhood supports the mental and physical health and empowerment of single mothers. Your generous donations will be carefully used to fund the operation of 'Self-Care Workshops for Single Mothers'. Donations are accepted on our donation page here.