The Last Roses
There are many issues and challenges we all face throughout a lifetime but some are bigger and more emotional than others. Some of these emotional times come when we take the final step and leave home to go out on our own to make our way in our own way. Some others include marriage or the birth of a first child. All of these motions springboard us into a new realm of life.
A Difficult Time
Then, there are other even more challenging emotions that one has to face sooner or later in life and one of these times occurs at the death of a parent either mother or father. Such was the case for me several years ago now.
My mother was not well for years before her death. She had various ailments including a heart attack, gallbladder problems and other illnesses from time to time. The final medical problem was cancer.
She was unable, for the last month, to leave the hospital. My dad would sit by her side all through the day waiting for her to awake -just sitting knowing that his wife of over forty years was slowly fading from him and there was nothing he could do.
There would be no more of one of their favorite activities and that was going for car rides exploring the countryside, stopping to investigate old farmhouses left in ruins or old schoolhouses and corner stores.
An Amazing Day
Then, a very unusual event occurred. My dad came to visit mom with a bunch of roses in his hand as he walked into her hospital room. She was not awake when he walked in but she soon opened her eyes. She seemed to be much brighter, her eyes were clearly focused and she immediately propped herself up on the bed pillows looking at those roses.
She looked from those roses to my dad and said, “Let’s go for a ride in the country, sweetheart.”
My dad was dumfounded. He didn’t know what to do because it was so out of character with a very ill person. My mother said it again; she wanted to go out for a ride in the countryside.
For whatever reason, she had bounced back to something like her old self. My dad didn’t know what to say and finally said he would have to go and ask the doctor if it was OK.
In a few minutes, he returned saying that therewas absolutely no reason not to go for a ride. So, armed with her roses, my dad and mother left the hospital, got into their car, and drove away.
It was only a few short hours later that they returned. My mom couldn’t walk very well then and was helped back into bed to immediately go to sleep.
There would be no more car rides. The end was very near. I left shortly after that and it was with the next two days that she passed away.
Was It A Miracle
No one will ever know what caused this miraculous change.
Was it because of a few simple roses as the final act of love, was it a passionate desire to live on earth and do what was done for many years as a pleasure?
Or, maybe it was a heavenly way for my dad to say fond farewell while engaged in an activity that they both loved.
The emotion that lies at the surface at the loss of a parent is one that will be forever born as life goes on. There is no forgetting, there is no time that sees it fade, and there is no replacement ever found. Each one of us must deal with death at some point; it is never something that anyone is fully prepared for even if warning signs are obvious.
To Summarize
No one will ever know what caused this miraculous change.
Life must be lived to the fullest each day; laughter must be a component of each day, and ensure that those you love know it before you cannot tell them ever again.
