Beauty In a Rose
by Angela Raines
“Beauty in a rose
Fades as the sun rides lower.
Time changes nothing.”
As I read those words to my dear wife Sheila I hoped her favorite words would comfort her. Even as time and disease had ravaged her body, her mind and eyes held the beauty that had caught my attention so many years ago.
Our granddaughter Alicia was standing close by. I know some of our friends who wonder about having one so young experience such things as her grandmothers upcoming demise. Since she had lost her parents when she was five, we felt that to understand how death was not always the end or bad, was a good thing. How do you explain to someone so young that to you their grand mother was the most wonderful, caring and beautiful person in the world? Yes, she was famous for her beauty. The world had clamored for more and more of her. Still she only had eyes for me and her family.
Alicia might only remember her grandmother Sheila in the hospital. The hands that rested on the sheets were skeletal and pale. That famous face worn by the cares and worries of the surgeries that had not been beneficial.
In spite of that my wife always smiled for Alicia and the rest of us. She was so very brave. The doctors suggested an experimental treatment. Sheila didn't hesitate. To her the experiments were part of why she was here. If they extended her life, so much the better. If they did not at least the doctors would learn something that might possibly help the next person.
In the midst of my ruminations I felt Alicia's hand take mine. I saw she was also holding her grandmother's. She looked at me with old eyes and asked, “Grandfather what did those words you read mean?”
“Well honey,” I started to answer and realized I had never thought of what they meant. I just read them because Sheila loved them. For me that had always been enough. Now that the question was asked I knew my answer.
Alicia looked expectantly, and when I started to answer Sheila interrupted.
“What do you think they mean?”
What would our ten year old say?.
“I think it means, well, it is like when Ginger cat died or mommy and daddy,what you remember will always be with you and that never changes.”
I looked at Sheila. There was love, joy and pride in her eyes. “What a beautiful and bright granddaughter we have been given. She understands.”
As Alicia and I looked at this wonderful woman, my heart sang, for I knew that Alicia was right. What I had found so beautiful was not my wife's physical beauty, but her heart. A heart so large that it contained any and everyone who touched her life. We would always have that and I would always have her. Like the line said, time changes nothing.
This work of fiction is the sole property of the author Doris McCraw writing as Angela Raines. This story may be forwarded on in its' entirety with this statement included and the authors permission.
“Beauty in a rose
Fades as the sun rides lower.
Time changes nothing.”
As I read those words to my dear wife Sheila I hoped her favorite words would comfort her. Even as time and disease had ravaged her body, her mind and eyes held the beauty that had caught my attention so many years ago.
Our granddaughter Alicia was standing close by. I know some of our friends who wonder about having one so young experience such things as her grandmothers upcoming demise. Since she had lost her parents when she was five, we felt that to understand how death was not always the end or bad, was a good thing. How do you explain to someone so young that to you their grand mother was the most wonderful, caring and beautiful person in the world? Yes, she was famous for her beauty. The world had clamored for more and more of her. Still she only had eyes for me and her family.
Alicia might only remember her grandmother Sheila in the hospital. The hands that rested on the sheets were skeletal and pale. That famous face worn by the cares and worries of the surgeries that had not been beneficial.
In spite of that my wife always smiled for Alicia and the rest of us. She was so very brave. The doctors suggested an experimental treatment. Sheila didn't hesitate. To her the experiments were part of why she was here. If they extended her life, so much the better. If they did not at least the doctors would learn something that might possibly help the next person.
In the midst of my ruminations I felt Alicia's hand take mine. I saw she was also holding her grandmother's. She looked at me with old eyes and asked, “Grandfather what did those words you read mean?”
“Well honey,” I started to answer and realized I had never thought of what they meant. I just read them because Sheila loved them. For me that had always been enough. Now that the question was asked I knew my answer.
Alicia looked expectantly, and when I started to answer Sheila interrupted.
“What do you think they mean?”
What would our ten year old say?.
“I think it means, well, it is like when Ginger cat died or mommy and daddy,what you remember will always be with you and that never changes.”
I looked at Sheila. There was love, joy and pride in her eyes. “What a beautiful and bright granddaughter we have been given. She understands.”
As Alicia and I looked at this wonderful woman, my heart sang, for I knew that Alicia was right. What I had found so beautiful was not my wife's physical beauty, but her heart. A heart so large that it contained any and everyone who touched her life. We would always have that and I would always have her. Like the line said, time changes nothing.
This work of fiction is the sole property of the author Doris McCraw writing as Angela Raines. This story may be forwarded on in its' entirety with this statement included and the authors permission.
Your story reminds me of an epitah I saw years ago in an old cemetery in Colorado. "Death up close shows a friendly face and is a terror only at a distance."
ReplyDeleteGood story. Eunie